Gravity Falls: A Royal Hunt
by Allenfairytail
Summary: With Bill defeated, Dipper and Mabel went back home to resume living a normal life and that would be the end of their adventures. Unbeknownst to them, both were wrong. Four years have passed since their last adventure and with an unexpected event befell upon them, the Pines Twins are forced to return to Gravity Falls where new adventures and secrets awaits.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I'm here with a Gravity Falls story in mind. This will be a bit different since I'm combining a few tropes then and there but I'll do my best to deliver an interesting story for you to enjoy!**

 _-Piedmont California, 3:30 p.m.-_

The sun was shining brightly over the large and peaceful neighborhood on this Friday afternoon in Piedmont California, with numerous children and teenagers storming out the door of their respective schools once that fateful school bell rang for the last time. Some went back home to rest and relax, while others decided to go somewhere else to have fun after having to endure a long and hard week at school.

A young girl named Mabel Pines, no more than sixteen years of age, with long chestnut brown hair that reaches her hips, pale skin, brown eyes and round blushing cheeks. She used to have silver colored braces, but had them removed a year ago, revealing her perfect smile that she now wore proudly, wearing a purple sweater, a white undershirt, a medium length pleated purple skirt, a pink headband, black shoes and white socks with pink and red hearts imprinted on them. She was carrying a rainbow colored backpack that was decorated with random stickers.

Next to her was her twin brother, Dipper Pines, who was the same age as her, having curly but messy brown hair that was covered with a blue and white hat, with blue brim and blue pine tree on the front, brown eyes and pale skin like his sister, wearing a navy blue hooded vest, a reddish orange T-shirt, grey shorts, plain white socks with a red stripe and black shoes. He is carrying a backpack like Mabel but his was green and more plain looking.

"Woo!" School is finally over!" Mabel Pines shouted in relief, as they walked out of Millennium High School campus. "Now come on, bro bro!"

A groan can be heard from an annoyed Dipper. "I'm coming, geez! What's the rush, Mabel? It's not like you have something planned today."

Mabel turned her head with a smile on her face. "Oh hush, Dipper! I have a lot of things at home that demands my attention."

Dipper rolled his eyes, before he followed his twin sister. The Pine twins had a good day at school, but both of them were admittedly tired and wanted to get home and relax. Luckily, they don't live that far from their high school, so just after several minutes of walking a few blocks around their neighborhood, they arrived home.

"Mom! Dad! We're home!" Mabel shouted out loud as they entered the house.

"We're in the kitchen kids!" Mrs. Pines yelled back.

The Pine twins made their way towards the kitchen and upon entering it saw their parents with Mrs. Pines making food while Mr. Pines was sitting on the dining table reading the local newspaper.

"Hey, you two," Mrs. Pines greeted with a smile. "How was school?"

Mabel was the first to respond. "School was fine, as usual!"

"That's good to hear.," Mrs. Pines smiled. She had brown hair like her children, her long hairstyle similar to her daughter and have the same brown eyes and pale skin as her children, as well as wearing a yellow and white apron over her pearl white dress.

"How was your day, dad?" Dipper asked, taking off his green backpack and set it near his seat.

"My day was great, lad," Mr. Pines spoke with some enthusiasm in his tone, his eyes still glued on the newspaper. Unlike the majority of the his family Mr. Pines is arguably the only one who doesn't have brown hair. Instead, he had short jet black hair and sea green eyes. He was wearing a black khakis pants, a white cotton long sleeve shirt, black socks, black shoes and a black leather belt.

"I hope you kids are getting ready for tomorrow," Mrs. Pines spoke with much enthusiasm, causing Mabel to respond with her bright smile.

"Of course, mom!" Mabel answered her mom with great anticipation and for good reason, the whole family were planning to go a weekend camping trip and everyone were very excited to go. Plus, it would be a nice few days off from work for Mr. and Mrs. Pines.

"It would be nice to have some day off from work." Mr. Pines spoke with a sigh of relief as he continued to read his newspaper.

After Mabel and Dipper discussed with their parents about the upcoming trip, both of the twins went to their rooms, with the former relaxing on her bed, while the latter began to pack as over the past couple of days, Dipper was occupied with school and books, among other things. Despite this, however, he was very excited for their big family weekend trip as it would get him away from the overwhelming schoolwork that would play heavily on his spring midterms; being the intellect out of the two, he has his head in the books as he don't want to mess up when it comes to his academics. Being away from home would do good for him and get him the break he sorely needed.

Meanwhile, in Mabel's room, the optimistic teenager was laying on his pink colored bed, reading some of her boys magazines and checking out the swarming images of good looking young boys from many shows, movies and boy bands like Edward Cullen and Jacob Black from the Twilight series and Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and formal Zayn Malik from the pop boy band One Direction. Mabel still haven't found much luck in finding the perfect boyfriend since starting high school; some of the boys were either too mean, too arrogant or too violent. Despite the setback, she still keep her head up, hoping to find her dream boyfriend. Going away on the upcoming family trip would get her mind off of boys and would give her something fun to do with her loving family.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly and pretty soon, it was now the evening. The Pines family were in their respective rooms until they were called by Mrs. Pines from the kitchen as it was supper time for them.

"Dipper! Mabel! Dinner is ready!"

The twins immediately jumped on their feet and rushed down the stairs, quickly arriving at the kitchen, with their mother setting up the table with plates and utensils. The only one who wasn't at the table is Mr. Pines. as he was in the living room.

"Dear!" Mrs. Pines called for her husband, "Dinner is ready!"

"Okay, I'll be there in a sec!" Mr. Pines shouted back, closing his newspaper and got on his feet. As he walked towards the kitchen, he heard a sudden knock on the door, much to his confusion. Mr. Pines as he didn't expect any known guests coming here.

 _'Now who could that be?'_ Mr. Pines thought, as he walk towards the door wanted to see who it was at the door.

The moment Mr. Pines opened the door, he was met with multiple bright flashlights beaming on him, as well as multiple black limousines parked on the curb in front of the Pines family's house, but most of all, stationed behind the numerous limousines were a few black cars that Mr. Pines could mistaken as police cars, even though none of them have any blue and red siren lights on top.

As Mr. Pines were processing with his thoughts on what was going on, he noticed six figures coming up towards the young father; five of the figures were adults: three women and two men, wearing black suits that gave them the appearance of being from the police station or even the C.I.A. Mr. Pines was shocked and confused, wondering what he or any of his family did to get onto the C.I.A.'s radar. But before he can gathered his mind to prepare the endless amount of questions the agents would obviously bombarded him, Mr. Pines got a glimpse of the sixth figure, expecting to be another agent.

To his great surprise, however, the sixth figure wasn't an agent, let alone an adult. It was a male teenager who looked around his children's age, with blonde, ripe wheat hair, which slightly shifted to the right, blue eyes and a light skin tone that match the color of his hair. His attire consists of a blue shirt, black pants with white boots wearing yellow feather earrings.

It was one thing to see police agents, even the C.I.A., coming to his house, but seeing them accompanying a child was another story. A lot of questions began surfacing on the young father's mind: what does the C.I.A. want? Why did they come here? More importantly, why was there a child among them?

As the figures were coming closer to Mr. Pines, he adjust his stance and his composure, intending on having all the answers by the end of tonight. "Um…may I help you guys?"

"Are you Mr. Pines, sir?" One of the two female agents asked in a stern voice.

"Uh, yes!" Mr. Pines replied in a haste tone, but remained quite nervous.

"Subject confirmed," The second female agent spoke alerting the rest of the officers. "Sir, we need to have a talk with you and your family."

But before the conversation can resume Mrs. Pines came out of the doorway rather fuming on who was at the door keeping her husband waiting holding the meatloaf she made. "Okay, what is going on here?!"

Mrs. Pines rudeness earned the stares from everyone except her husband. as he was shaking his head. Mrs. Pines realized whose was at the door and began to laugh nervously.

"Uh…meatloaf anyone?"

* * *

"…And that's the whole the story Mr. and Mrs. Pines."

Mr. and Mrs. Pines were currently in the living room, sitting on the couch, listening to the long and complicated story that the agents informed them, with Dipper and Mabel in the kitchen, secretly watching their parents and the agents talking important business from the corner.

"What do you think the C. I. A would want with our parents?" Mabel asked eyeing on the agents.

"I'm not sure myself Mabel." Dipper admitted as he over served the living room with caution. "Something's off Mabel..."

"What is it?" Mabel asked.

"If the agents are really from the Central Intelligence Agency how come I see their coats don't have C. I. A logo on their back?" Dipper points out, possibly smelling foul play in the works.

"Maybe they are in short supply?" Mabel suggested. Dipper only rolled his eyes in response to Mabel's laughable answer before returning his glance to the living room again.

"But still I wonder why these people come here of all places? It's not like our parents done nothing this bad that would grab their attention." Dipper muttered suspiciously.

"I know this is completely sudden for you both, Mr. and Mrs. Pines, but this is very important that this child needs a place and this particular area is one the recommended place to stay and hide until things get under control. Now whether you two can accept or decline, we will understand your decision," One of the male agent explained, who had black eyes, brown hair and dark skin tone.

Both the Pines parents look at each other before retreating to their thoughts about the situation that was explained to them. A few moments have passed until Mr. Pines begin to speak with a stern expression on his face.

"Well, as much how serious the situation, is we're gonna have t-"

"Accept!" Mrs. Pines shouted with much enthusiasm and joy, much to her husband's dismay.

"Honey!" Mr. Pines was not pleased with his wife cutting him off like this. "We dunno who this kid is!"

"Oh come dear," Mrs. Pines insisted, "This poor child is crying for help and need a place to stay." Mrs. Pines was very interested in taking care of another child as her own and after hearing the teenager story, she wanted to take her in. However, it was clear that the only thing that's stopping her is her husband.

"Hon…" Mr. Pines begin to adjust his glasses. "I know you mean well, but we can't possibly take this child unless we learn more!"

"Oh hush you!" Mrs. Pines harshly ordered her husband with her wit and quirkiness before she went up to the teenager and patted the young child. "Don't you worry bout a thing sweetie everything will be okay."

The teenager boy blushed at the parental affection he was receiving from Mrs. Pines and only nodded his head and forming a very shy smile. Mr. Pines looked at his wife consoling the young child. After seeing how determined his wife wanting for the lone teenager to stay Mr. Pines let out a defeated sigh.

"Alright! The boy can stay here," Mr. Pines ultimately gave in.

Mrs. Pines gasped and lit up in happiness by her husband approval. "Yes!"

The agent's demeanor changed into a very relaxed tone. A female agent with blonde hair, blue eyes and light skin tone spoke, "Excellent, Mr Pines. We will get the proper paperwork for you."

A handful of agents got the proper paperwork presented for Mr and Mrs. Pines. Both parents took their time carefully reading them, all of which it included the young teenager's information, among others. After several minutes of scrolling down every single page, Mr. and Mrs. Pines signed the paperwork and gave them back to the agents.

"Wonderful! With that out of the way, we'll take our leave," The male agent spoke, as he wrap up this unexpected meeting before reach for his pocket. "Almost forgot! Here's our card! Call us just in case an emergency."

"We will," Mrs. Pines said as she followed the agents out the door.

"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Pines for accepting this difficult task. Hope you guys have a good night," With that, all the agents exited the house, got in their cars and drove off, leaving the Pines family alone with the young boy who was looking down, clearly feeling very nervous about his new living conditions. Mrs. Pines gave the teenager her sympathy; she could tell that he felt like a burden to her and the rest of her family and she knew only one way to show him otherwise.

"Hi there, you must be very stressed due to your current situation and I completely understand. But you are now safe here so you can rest easy."

"T-thank you, ma'am." The blonde haired boy turned pink at Mrs. Pines kindness.

Mrs. Pines patted the blonde hair boy's shoulder. "Come on, I made some meatloaf and you must be starving!"

The young teenager nodded while chuckling. "Yeah, I am a bit hungry, ma'am and I would love to have some meatloaf."

Mr and Mrs. Pines escorted the blonde haired boy to the kitchen where Mabel and Dipper are sitting across each other. Mr Pines sat on his seat while Mrs. Pines making the plates for her family and her honorary guest. Mr. Pines were keeping to himself, Dipper and Mabel were starting the blonde haired teenager with the latter having a flirtatious look that clearly reads, _"Hello there handsome"_ much to the blonde teenager's discomfort.

"Uh…hello there…" The blonde teenager nervously greeted her.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Mabel squealed. "Hi there! I'm Mabel! And this is my twin brother Dipper Pines!"

Dipper just waved at the teenager with indifference, never saying a word, prompting the brunette to elbow her brother.

"OW!" Dipper winced from the pain, before facing the new kid. "Hi, my name's Dipper."

"Hello there Dipper. Hello there Mabel." The blonde teenager bowed his head in humility and politeness. "My name is Joshua. I-I hope we can get along."

"Nonsense! We're a very awesome family!" Mabel proudly boasted. "And you don't seemed to be a terrible person up glance."

Joshua's face turned pink from Mabel's compliment. "T-thank you Mabel. I'll try not to cause much trouble."

Just then, Joshua felt a hand touching on his right shoulder causing him to turn his head to see who hand's was resting on his shoulder. It was Mrs. Pines severing him dinner equipped with a smile on her face that is as Joshua can describe "warm as a quilt." He look back down facing his dinner, eyeing on the meatloaf with dirty rice and corn on the side on his plate; the aroma made his mouth began to water a bit.

"You don't need to worry about anything, sweetheart," Mrs. Pines addressed to Joshua in a motherly fashion. "Make yourself at home and if you need anything any of us know, okay?"

"Okay," Joshua nodded his head as he looked at the whole Pines family; Mabel gave him a wink, Dipper were shrugging his shoulder with indifference while Mr. Pines let out a sigh clearly displeased with the situation forcing to take care of a random child out of the blue.

 _"This may be the most longest and difficult period of my life,"_ Joshua thought as he quietly ate his dinner with the Pines family.

For the most part, the Pines family and Joshua ate dinner with minimal talking, with Mrs. Pines and Mabel doing most of the talking, with the former trying to get her husband and son to talk, in order to get to know their new guest, while the latter asked simple questions and such. Joshua managed to be fairly honest and answer most of them, but there were other questions that he couldn't answer, mainly because of how personal they were, a fact that Mabel understood, much to the guest's relief.

The Pines Family resumed what they were previously doing after dinner with the exception of Mrs. Pines as she is currently showing Joshua around the house for a bit telling where the bathroom is and where each of her family's rooms are before arriving at the guest room.

"Here's the guest room, Joshua," Mrs. Pines said, opening the door. "This is where you would be staying."

"Thank you Mrs. Pines." Was all Joshua said before entering his new room. The room is medium sized with the bedroom walls painted representing the autumn with such colors as pumpkin, tangerine and flame orange. One the left side is a queen size bed well made with layers of clean white sheets, light brown blankets, a red, black and beige color stripe comforter and two large pillows tucked in red pillow covers resting on top. Across the bed is a dark chestnut brown colored dresser with a 32 inch television made from Samsung and a Direct T. V. cable box with a white colored remote sitting on top. On the right side there is a closet with mirrors on the slide doors and a bathroom. There were also a small one on the left side next to the queen sized bed.

"Whoa! This room is rather nice," Joshua complimented. "Thank you for letting me stay here, Mrs. Pines."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Mrs. Pines let out a light chuckle. "Anyway, I'll leave you alone. If you need anything you can ask me, my husband or the twins."

Joshua nodded and with that, Mrs. Pines left, but not before bidding the blonde boy goodnight. Joshua scrolled towards the bed and sat down to unpack his things with his clothes being the first to work on and load inside the dresser followed by his bathroom utensils like his toothbrush, comb, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, soap, q tips and finally his personal stuff from his pocket like his wallet, cell phone, lip chap and his red colored New Nintendo 3DS and set them on a black colored nightstand that is on right side of the bed.

After settling in his new room Joshua closed the bedroom door and got undressed into his boxers and black t-shirt, then put on a pair of shorts that were blue with two green stripes on each side before climbing onto the queen bed and got under the covers.

Joshua then let out a sigh before drifting off to sleep.

 _"This is my new life here…."_

* * *

Morning came in the peaceful neighborhood and it was Saturday, which means that every kid and teenager didn't have to worry to getting up for school and most of them sleep through the morning.

Not every teenager follow his common choice, however. An already awaken Dipper Pines made his way downstairs with breakfast in his mind. He was wearing an orange t-shirt and light blue shorts. When Dipper got downstairs, his nose instantly caught the sweet aroma of breakfast coming from the kitchen and decided to head towards the kitchen. Upon his arrival, he saw his mother at the stove making pancakes, sausages, eggs and much to his surprise, Joshua sitting at the table, playing on his phone while waiting for breakfast to be ready.

Mrs. Pines was humming in tune and turned around, instantly saw her beloved son awake. "Oh, good morning, sweetie!"

"Morning mom," The younger twin let out a yawn while rubbing his eyes before facing his new guest Joshua. "Morning Joshua."

"Oh, good morning, Dipper," Joshua greeted, as he put his phone down. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm…fine, for a lack of a better word." Dipper reluctantly replied as he took a seat.

"Since Mabel isn't with you now, I'm guessing that she's still sleeping," Mrs. Pines pointed out.

Dipper nodded his head. "You know Mabel, mom. Once she goes to sleep, it's nearly impossible to wake her up."

Mrs. Pines laughed. "So true."

"So mom, I got my stuff prepared for the camping trip," Dipper said with excitement. His enthusiasm quickly died down upon seeing his mother's smile turning into a disappointing frown.

"Oh Dipper, I'm afraid we have to cancel the camping trip."

"WHAT?!" Dipper was not pleased to hear such a news, before glaring at Joshua and faced his mother. "Is it because Joshua is here?!"

"Dipper!" Mrs. Pines sternly shouted, causing her son to almost jump out of his chair in fear and begin to sweat nervously. "No, It is not solely because our new guest is staying, it's because your father had to work today and unfortunately so do I."

Dipper looked down. "Wait, I thought you two have the weekend off."

Mrs. Pines walked towards the dining table, holding two plates filled with hot food. "I thought so too, but your dad got an urgent call from his boss and he left an hour ago for work. As for me, one of my co-workers got injured on the job and needed me as a substitute to fill in."

"I see," Dipper let out a guilty sigh for jumping to conclusions like that. "I'm sorry mom for acting the way I did."

"It's okay Dipper. I know how you two was really looking forward for this family trip and both your dad and myself were greatly disappointed that sudden problems from work had gotten in the way." Mrs. Pines explained.

"Um excuse me, Mrs. Pines?" Joshua spoke up. "I want to apologize if I'm the cause for ruining your family plans."

"Don't be," Mrs. Pines kindly reassured Joshua. "This has nothing to do with you sweetie. Say, since my husband and I have to work today why don't you guys go outside and so that our little guest can see around the neighborhood. It would also be a nice for you guys to get some fresh air."

"I would like that." Dipper said with a surprise amount of approval. Joshua himself let out a soft smile.

"I wouldn't mind getting out of the house and explore around."

Mrs. Pines cheerfully clapped her hands. "Excellent! I'll leave you kids some money before I head out in a few."

"Wait, you're not gonna join us for breakfast Mrs. Pines?" Joshua asked.

"Sadly I can't," Mrs. Pines replied with disappointment. "I have to go work right now before they open. I'll see you kids later and, Dipper, I put Mabel's breakfast in the microwave, so when she comes down, please inform her."

"You got it mom," Dipper reassured his mom.

Mrs. Pines exited the kitchen and went to the living room, grabbing her purse, cell phone and brown leather jacket, left a nice amount of money for the kids to spend on later in the living room table, bid Joshua and Dipper goodbye and left the house leaving the two boys by themselves in the kitchen quietly eating.

"So Joshua," Dipper began to speak as he began feel very awkward as the overwhelming silence filling the kitchen. "How are you this morning? Did you sleep well?"

"I'm good so far, despite being a bit overwhelmed," Joshua admitted. "And I slept well in fact."

"That's good to know," Dipper bashfully rubbed the back of his head.

Just then, the boys heard footsteps coming from the stairs, causing Dipper and Joshua to turn around to see who it was; It is Mabel fully awake dressed in her Pajamas which consisted of a long grape purple nightdress. Her hair was a bit messy which give the impression she just got out of bed.

"Hey, bro bro!" Mabel greeted before facing Joshua with a seductive smile. "Good morning there handsome."

Joshua bashfully turned his head quickly hiding his with a pink blush creeping across his face. "Good morning, Mabel."

"Mabel, please do us a favor and try not to hit on Joshua," Dipper ordered.

Mabel annoyingly rolled her eyes before facing Joshua again clearly with every intent to ignore her little twin brother, much to her sibling's dismay. "How do you sleep last night?"

"Believe it or not, I slept like a rock," Joshua humorously teased, trying alleviate the awkwardness.

"That's good to know." Mabel giggled before she noticed something. "Wait a minute, where's mom and dad?"

Dipper explained what has transpired earlier and broke the news and broke the news of their camping trip being cancelled. Joshua saw Mabel's facial expressions going from shock, disappointment and frustration but it luckily it didn't last long as Mabel grew very pumped with the idea of showing her new guest around town.

"Of course we can show Joshua around the neighborhood!" Mabel clapped her hands. "Just let me eat my breakfast first and then we can head out."

"Sounds good," Dipper said.

* * *

Dipper, Mabel and Joshua walked around the area of their hometown. Dipper wore his usual outfit, while Joshua and Mabel wore different outfits; the former wore blue jeans, a simple blue and white short sleeve shirt over a bleach white t-shirt and blue shoes to complete his matching outfit, with the latter wore a teal green skirt, a pink sweater with a small light brown striped kitten playing a purple ball of yarn and black Mary Jane shoes.

The kids were now at the outskirts of downtown where the city shopping area is located. "You two live in a nice area," Joshua commented.

"Thank you," Mabel smiled as butterflies begin to form in her stomach. "Say why don't stop a few places now that our mom left us some money to spend on. What do you say?"

"Sounds great." Joshua answered.

"So where do you like to go?" Dipper suddenly asked as he has been quiet since the majority of of the trip.

"Anywhere is fine, really," Joshua casually replied.

With that, the Pine Twins start their day of showing their new friend around downtown. Originally, Dipper planned to go to only a few places to visit, but Mabel, wanting to cover every corner of the tour and to satisfy her new guest, ultimately ended up visiting nearly every place that was opened, much to the dismay of Dipper, as well as Joshua, but decided to keep his feelings of frustration and thoughts to himself.

It was now late in the afternoon and the kids were at the front of IHOP sitting on a blue bench as the boys were both tired and request Mabel a well needed break.

"Ugh! Finally!" Joshua let out a relieving sigh. "My feet are killing me from that walking!"

"Please, you have it bad Joshua?" Dipper questioned. "My feet felt like pure jelly about two hours ago! Yet by a miracle my feet at still surprisingly intact. And on top of that, I've dealt with this for years no thanks to Mabel here."

Joshua's eyes widened as he made a cringed expression. "Whoa, I'm sorry you had to deal with that."

"It's alright man, not your fault," Dipper huffed, as he leaned his whole body back on the bench. "I'm just glad that we can finally rest because honestly anymore walking and my feet would have become jelly."

"I honestly can't blame ya," Joshua chuckled.

Dipper let out a small smile before awkwardly looking down but strangely felt a bit good for some reason. "So Joshua, can you tell us why are you staying with us?"

Dipper and Mabel quickly saw Joshua's facial expression darkened with great sadness completely covering his face. "It's rather-"

Joshua quickly shook his head. "I'm sorry you two, but it's classified, so I can't say."

"Dipper!" Mabel hit her brother in the back of his head, very livid. "Why do you have ask an obvious sensitive question?! You clearly dampened Joshua's happy mood and ruined the whole day!"

"Geez Mabel I'm so-" Dipper paused a bit to recount his older sister's words. "Wait, how do you know asking personal questions is forbidden? Don't tell me…you already asked a similar question to Joshua didn't you?"

"Pfft! As if Dipper," Mabel said with passive indifference. "Mom came to my room last night before I went to bed and informed me about not asking questions that brings up anything about his personal life including why he's staying with us."

"What?" Dipper shook his head in slight shock. "How come I wasn't informed?"

"Because you were knocked out cold by the time mom want to tell you." Mabel replied.

Dipper only gave Mabel a sour look before rolling his eyes. "Fine."

Mabel only gave her brother a glare before facing Joshua. "I'm sorry for my brother he can be a dummy head at times."

"Hey!" Dipper yelled in protest, which Mabel completely ignored her brother pleas.

"Hey it's okay," Joshua said looking away. "Look, let's change the subject by getting something to eat and then head home okay?"

"Sounds good to me!" Mabel squealed in excitement and grabbed Joshua's hand.

The blonde hair teenager turned pale. "Wait Mabel I still want to re-"

It was too late and Joshua was dragged away, leaving an irritated Dipper alone as he got up on his sore feet. "Oh boy…"

* * *

The trio walked around the shopping area for about a half hour, as they couldn't condone where to eat. Mabel wanted to eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries since she's up for burgers, while Dipper wanted to eat Chipotle Mexican Grill due to him having the mood for tacos and burritos. For Joshua however, he was mostly indifferent on what he want a taste for since he isn't the type of person to be picky about food. So Joshua had to be the lucky person to get a front row seat seeing the Pine Twins arguing with each other. After only seeing a minute or two of them yelling and screaming Joshua came up a quick suggestion of setting their little dispute; Rock, Paper, Scissors. Both Dipper and Mabel agreed and after 3 matches later Mabel came out as the victor much to annoyance of Dipper but he ultimately admit defeat and Mabel lead the two boys to Five Guys.

The trio ordered their food and sat in the back left of the fast food restaurant. "Ah, hello cheeseburger meet my mouth."

Mabel took a huge bite of her cheeseburger before begin munching her fires in a rather loud fashion causing unwanted glares from several people, much to Joshua's shock and Dipper's chagrin.

"I see that you're very hungry Mabel." Joshua spoke as he took a bit on his hotdog.

Mabel nodded her head. "Yep! Five Guys is one of my favorite burger joints I try to go as much as possible."

"I see," Joshua took another bite on his hotdog.

Mabel and Dipper looked at each other. It was quite evident that Joshua had been very quiet for the past hours and only speak when being spoken to. The twins dismissed the boy's quietness to the situation he was in, despite how very little they truly know Joshua and his reason why he is staying with them. For Dipper, not knowing your guest very much let alone any reasons as to why they're staying with them makes it difficult for him not to feel a little paranoid about it despite his parents, namely his mother, to treat Joshua with hospitality. Mabel however, was only more captivated of Joshua's strong but silent persona and it made her want to know more about hist past, even thought it would clearly go against her promise with her mom. Both twins hope they will get their chance to know more about Joshua sooner or later.

After eating their food, the trio begin heading back home despite it is still mid afternoon but with all the walking that Mabel made the boys do, all of them ultimately call it a day. Even Mabel herself that although wanting to continue their tour around town, she couldn't deny the fact that all three of them were completely bushed and it is best to return home and rest.

"So sorry that we had to head back home early Joshua." Mabel apologized.

"Oh, it's quite alright Mabel," Joshua said. "We can go somewhere fun tomorrow if you like."

"R-really?" Mabel asked, sounding very excited.

"Sure, I don't mind getting out again. Staying at home have it's perks but I favored being outside." Joshua replied.

"Ah you're more of an outdoor type of person," Mabel points out.

Joshua let out a slight chuckle. "More or less, Mabel."

Dipper looked at the two socializing with each other, leaving him out alone with the cold shoulder. Despite being very cautious about Joshua, given how his "flashy" arrival came with tons of agents, he couldn't help but to be a bit sad of being left out. Maybe he should stop being paranoid and start coming out of his shell a bit. Whether he wants to befriend Joshua or not Dipper will have to make a decision sooner or later.

The trio finally arrived home. Mabel unlocked the door with her house key and opened it. "Mom! Dad! We're home!"

The kids expected to hear Mr and Mrs Pines voice to let them know their home as well but there was no response.

"Mom?! Dad?! Are you home?" Dipper shouted as they entered the living room. Again no response.

"Looks like your parents are still at work," Joshua spoke.

"It sure seems that way," Mabel confirmed as she scratched her head before smiling. "So who wants to join me in the living room and watch TV?"

"Thanks, but no thanks Mabel, I'll pass." Dipper declined as he sluggishly made his way to his room.

Mabel frowned at her brother's answer before facing Joshua. "Joshua do you want to join me in the living room?"

"Sorry Mabel, I'm gonna have to decline as well," Joshua replied as he too made his way to the guest room.

Mabel was left alone in dismay and disappointed by both boys unwilling to join with her watching TV. "Damnit! I was hoping for Dipper and Joshua to join with me so both of them can try to make progress and become friends."

Mabel scratched her chin before a light bulb appear on top on her head. "Aha! I got it! I know the perfect way to get Dipper and Joshua to warm up to each other. I, Mabel Pines, will make this plan work!"

Mabel then glanced at her unicorn themed watch on her right wrist that reads it is four thirty causing the optimistic girl to gasped and grabbed the remote.

"...Right after I watch Twilight New Moon on demand!" Mabel instantly sat down and turned the channel, eager to watch her recent favorite movie series.

* * *

Soon, It was evening at the Pines home and Mr. and Mrs. Pines were still at work, leaving the trio to have the entire household to themselves. Dipper came out of his room, as it was becoming dark and he was getting hungry, but since his mother wasn't here to make supper, he will have to improvise and find dinner on his own.

As he arrived at the stairs he his eye caught a familiar face. "Joshua?"

Joshua put his phone away and saw Dipper. "Dipper, how are you this evening?"

"Okay, as usual," Dipper cautionary replied, clearly put off by Joshua's mellow attitude, but decided to suppress his judgement, as he walked downstairs with Joshua following him.

Upon arriving downstairs, both boys noticed a long purple bed sheet covering the entire doorway that leads to the living room and music can be heard as well. Filled with curiosity, Dipper and Joshua went to the living room. Upon pushing the purple sheet aside, they were greeted with many colorful lights completely filling the room from a large spinning disco ball hanging on the ceiling. A bowl filled with tortilla chips and candy alongside 2 liters of Pitt Cola and red disposable cups sitting on the coffee table. The television was on, showing the news and next to it was what appears to be a big black radio and cd boombox.

Both boys were flabbergasted by the change of display of the living room.

"What the hell is this?" Dipper asked.

"Well, I was going to ask you if you and your sister planned this but given that sudden remark you made it seems this is all on your own sister's doing," Joshua spoke as scratched at left his right cheek with his right index finger.

"Speaking of which, where is Mabel anyway?" Dipper turn his head to look for his twin sister.

Out of nowhere both boys heard a familiar voice. "Hello boys!"

Dipper and Joshua turned around and load and behold there is Mabel standing near the back door as she came from the backyard. "Welcome! It's time to get this started!"

Joshua gave Mabel a rather slight confused look. "Uh… Mabel? Is all this you're doing?"

"Yep!" Mabel nodded her head with her bright smile filling the room.

"Mind telling us what all this for and why?" It was Dipper's turn to ask his sister's motives.

"This…" Mabel started happily. "Is a little party I set up for all three of us can have a good time!"

"What?!" Dipper and Joshua shouted in shock and both wanted to protest, but Mabel wouldn't have any of it and grabbed their hands, dragging them to the couch before throwing them.

"Oof! Mabel, what gives?" A very peeved Joshua demanded answers from the optimistic girl for throwing him like a shuriken. A very annoyed Dipper gave his sister a similar look and wanted the same as well.

Mabel let out a sigh before speaking. "Look, I'm rather fed up of you two alienating yourself and not being friends," A smile crept up on Mabel's face, "So I decided to step in and improvise for you boys to finally bond!"

"By throwing a party for us?" Dipper asked.

"Yep!" Mabel shouted confidently. "Let's get this party started!"

Both boys looked at each other before staring back at Mabel as she started up the boombox.

"You have got to be kidding me." Dipper muttered with displeasure.

"What's wrong Dipper?" Joshua asked. "You sound like it's the end of the world."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Haha, very funny." He then have Joshua a serious look. "But seriously, you have no idea how my sister can be when throwing parties."

Joshua blinked a bit before shaking his head and waving a dismissive hand. "Oh it can't be that bad."

Dipper gave the blonde haired teenager an eerie look before sighing. "Trust me, you'll soon see why."

Just then, music began to play and it was song that is from the boy band "One Direction" much of Dipper's dismay and let out a disapproval groan while Joshua didn't react at all. Mabel walked towards to the boys carrying board games.

"Let's start off this awesome night with some awesome music and playing some awesome board games." Mabel said with so much optimism in her tone.

For the next hour, Mabel, Dipper and Joshua were in the living room watching tv, socializing, playing board games all while listening to loud music filling the room. Despite a strong start that Mabel arranged, it became quite evident to the brunette that the party was becoming lackluster, with Dipper expressing his annoyance several times already clearly having a _"Ugh I want this party to end"_ kind of attitude. Mabel managed to figure out and conclude that the board game's fun factor worn out its welcome quickly and it also didn't help that Mabel would always come out victorious in every board game they played with. Plus, repetition of the music constantly playing songs from other boy bands such "Sev'ral Timez" and "The Backstreet Boys" was starting to become ear grading for Dipper, but Joshua strangely remained mostly calm and composed through everything. It was clear that Mabel need to pull out the big guns or all of her efforts will end up being all for naught.

Just then, an idea came to her. "I got just the thing to shake things up!"

Mabel walked to the boombox and got out a cassette tape from her skirt pocket, inserted inside the boombox and pressed the play button.

"There we go!" Mabel skipped back towards the coffee table where the boys are sitting. "Let's relax and watch some television."

"Finally, no more worrying about losing another game," Dipper let out a sigh of relief, before his heart race and begin to sweat as the song called "Disco Girl" begin to play. He cursed himself knowing this song is obvious his secretly favorite and guilty pleasure song and didn't want Joshua to see his secret affinity of this song to come out in full display.

While Dipper was suppressing the urge of singing out his favorite song, Mabel was engaging a conversation with Joshua on the couch, sipping on some Pitt Cola.

"So Joshua," Mabel started. "How are you feeling? Liking the party so far?"

"It's okay," Joshua replied with indifference filling his tone. "A bit bland but tolerable."

Mabel frowned at first for calling her party bland, but instantly turn her frown upside down at the end that the party was at least bearable to him. This gave the optimistic girl some satisfaction that her efforts was making progress. Slow? Sure. Painfully? Very much so, but somehow through these two setbacks she's making progress. That alone gave Mabel a smile on her face.

"Okay, I know it would be rude of me to ask, but who in the hell would listen to this kind of crap?" Joshua suddenly asked.

Before Mabel could respond they heard Dipper singing the lyrics to the song and moving his hips dancing as he let the music flow guide his body and Joshua and Mabel stood there watching Dipper for a few moments. Each person in the living reacted this embarrassing moment. Dipper let out a girly "Eep!" and stopped dancing immediately, Mabel smiled brightly and laughed her socks off while Joshua stared at Dipper before he shook his head.

"It looks like that awkward moment answered my own question." "Joshua smug a bit. "Never thought you were into pop songs Dipper."

"Shut it, Joshua!" Dipper angrily snapped with his face now completely flustered. He then faced his twin sister. "Mabel, why did you have to play that song?!"

"Because you like it!" Mabel simply replied.

Dipper only rolled his eyes and quickly ran out the living room completely fuming from embarrassing himself like that. "I'll be in my room!"

Mabel followed her twin brother. "Oh come on, Dipper! Don't be like that!"

With the pine twins gone Joshua is alone in the living room with nothing but the music playing and the television running, now showing reruns of Donut Showdown on the cooking channel. Knowing that Mabel played a part of revealing Dipper's secret out in front of him, Joshua sat back on the couch and watch T.V. since there was nothing better to do.

"Well that was…interesting to see," Joshua teased completely relaxed himself on his seat.

After fifteen minutes have passed, Mabel Pines returned to the living room with a disappointing frown on her face. Upon seeing Joshua she half heartedly greeted him. "Hey Joshua, looks like Dipper is calling it a night early."

"It's no surprise that your brother is calling it quits since you did embarrass him in front of me," Joshua kept his mellow and stoic attitude.

"But all I wanted is you and Dipper to bond and I got out my boombox to play some songs that you two might have in common on liking," Mabel explained before sadly looking down. "But it seems that I only made things worse."

"Not necessarily so," Joshua disagree. This caused Mabel look up at Joshua in confusion.

"W-what do you mean?"

"While you efforts did ended up less than stellar on the surface, I did learn one of Dipper's interests," Joshua replied, "Learning one interests, no matter how embarrassing some can be, is a starting point to get some common grounds between whether is between two people or a group of people. In fact, because of me discovering your brother's interests in pop songs, I'm rather interested in knowing more about Dipper. So, don't deemed your efforts as a failure but rather a success albeit a small one at that but a success nonetheless. Also, none of this wouldn't happened had it not been for you setting this party for all of us. And I have you to thank for that."

Joshua's words made Mabel blinked a bit and her face to become flustered from such a honest and sweet compliment. Overwhelmed with much joy and comfort, Mabel let out a squeal causing Joshua to jump in slight surprise before finding himself being hugged by the optimistic teenager much to his shock.

"Thank you for cheering me up," Mabel thanked him, "Your real sweet."

Joshua's face turned pink from Mabel's compliment. "Y-your welcome."

After a few moments of hugging Mabel and Joshua separate themselves and decided to clean up the living room and returning the living room in its normal shelf. Mabel took care of the disco ball and her red boombox while Joshua took care of plates, cups and the leftover soda. It only took about few minutes of cleaning for them to be done. Mabel and Joshua meet up in the living room to scan the whole area one last time to see if there anything they miss.

"Looks like everything's clean and good to go," Joshua said.

"Yep!" Mabel cheered with approval before facing the blonde teenager. "Thank you for helping me clean up."

"You're quite welcome Mabel." Joshua nodded his head.

Mabel smiled brightly as she took a look at her watch and let out a gasp.

"Oh my, it almost ten o'clock."

Joshua took a look the clock that is on display on the direct t.v. cable box. "That it is. I'm gonna turn in for the rest of the night.

Mabel nodded as she let out a yawn. "Yeah okay, I'm going to do the same as well."

Mable and Joshua bid each other goodnight and both of them retreated to their respective rooms for the night. As Joshua made his way back to the guest room he thought about the whole day and concluded that today wasn't so bad as he initially thought it would be. He was welcomed by Mrs. Pines and became good friends with Mabel, although friendship with Dipper is as of now still almost nonexistent he had made small progress hoping he can get Mr. Pines to like him in due time.

Letting out a sigh, Joshua arrived at the guest room and closed the door turning for the night.

* * *

Mabel was currently laying on her bed wearing her purple night dress while simultaneously watching TV and writing in her pink colored diary.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Today has been a rather crazy day. Despite our family planned trip ended up being cancelled due to our parents having to work at the last minute, Dipper and I showed Joshua around town and it was fun. Well, for me that is. Dipper was annoyed being outside, most likely still sulking from his disappointment of the cancelled trip and as for Joshua he mostly kept to himself and didn't talk very much. While I did managed to become friends with him, Dipper didn't even bother trying to be friends. So with this mind I threw a party when we got home earlier in the afternoon in attempt for Dipper and Joshua to find anything they have in common. I even played my brother's favorite song but it ended up Dipper leaving the party. My efforts ended up been for nothing and almost wanted to cry but Joshua comforted me and made me realized that had I not throw that party, Joshua would have never find anything that Dipper liked and things would have continued to be awkward between them. Now that he knows one of my brother's interests Joshua have a starting point to make progress with Dipper and he thanked me for it. Those words…. excuse me here I'm like crying right now thinking about it…._

 _Those words that Joshua spoke instantly washed all of my sadness away and I gave Joshua a big warming hug. As I was crushing him in my bearhug, I discovered something about him that despite being stoic and mellow most of the time he has a sweet side to him leaving me to realized that there is more to Joshua then he's portray himself to be. Hopefully Dipper and I will find out more about him and by then my brother will open up to Joshua and become friends._

Suddenly Mable's thoughts were interrupted by her bedroom door being opened. The brunette stopped on what she is doing and turned her head to see who it was. It is her mother who came back from work an hour ago.

"Hey sweetie. Listen, I got complaints from our neighbors of loud music coming from our house," Mrs. Pines said. "Was that only of you or Dipper's doing?"

Mabel bashfully scratched the back of her head. "Heh, sorry mom I threw a party earlier."

Mrs. Pines blinked a bit before shaking her head. "A party? What for?"

"It was for me, Dipper and Joshua to have fun and see if those two have anything in common, since both of them never try to become friends," Mabel explained.

"So that's why…" Mrs. Pines sighed. "I can imagined Dipper would have a hard time befriending a person who showed up at our house surrounded with a number of agents. Anyone would feel that way frankly."

"Anyway, I'm sorry if my actions got you in trouble," Mabel apologize.

"It's alright sweetie. Try to be careful with the volume next time okay?" Mrs. Pines asked.

"Alright mom!" Mabel nodded.

"Good, goodnight Mabel."

"Good night Mom."

Mrs. Pines closed the door leaving the brunette alone for the night. Mabel herself wrapped up writing her diary before closing it, setting it on her night stand, shutting off her lamp and TV and headed on into bed.

 **And that is it for Chapter One. Leave a review, comment or PM me if you have any questions. Now normally I would end it here but since I want to give readers an idea of how my OC'S sounds when they speak, I'll named the characters who I can imagined being portrayed as. I wont do this for ever chapter though; just only chapters that new characters are introduced.**

 **For Joshua, I can see him being voiced from Yuri Lowenthal. He's famous for a lot of voice acting in, anime, tv and video games. But for me personally he's particularly known for voicing Sasuke Uchiha from the Naruto Franchise and Yosuke Hanamura from the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 series.**

 **See you in the next chapter! Ciao!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Finally I got this chapter done! Sorry for the long wait! Enjoy!**

 _-Piedmont California, 11:12 a.m.-_

"Joshua, how much is that box of cereal?"

"Hmm…Initially it's four fifty but thankfully this one is on sale for one ninety nine.

"Perfect!"

It was a clear and warming late Wednesday morning in Piedmont, California and Mrs. Pines was at Ralphs, shopping for food for the household. Along with her was Joshua, who tagged along since he didn't have nothing else to do at home, with Mr. Pines at work and Dipper and Mabel were at school, leaving just him and Mrs. Pines by themselves. Not wanting to feel isolated from the rest of the family, Joshua accompanied Mrs. Pines with her errands, much to her initial shock, but ultimately welcomed him with open arms to come with her.

"Okay, let me check if we got everything," Mrs. Pines looked at her list and then the grocery cart.

Joshua nodded his head. "Alright."

"Alright then, I got everything we need," Mrs. Pines confirmed to Joshua and smiled. "Joshua, you can go ahead and get anything you would want to eat for lunch."

"Are you sure about that, Mrs. Pines?" Joshua shook his head in slight shock from her generosity. Mrs. Pines nodded her head.

"Of course, Joshua. Pick out any drink you might want and since I have some extra money on me, you can pick any kind of dessert you want." Joshua's usual mellow expression soon changed into a small smile.

"Well if you insist, Mrs. Pines. I'll be right back."

"Okay, I'll be at the checkout station," Mrs. Pines made her way to the checkout station, leaving Joshua on his own, as he made his way to the frozen products aisle.

"Ok then, let's see." Joshua scanned the numerous freezers before laying his eyes on chimichangas. "Jackpot."

With little time to spare, Joshua grabbed several steak and cheese chimichangas, a bag of pepperoni pizza pockets and a large bucket of neapolitan ice cream, before grabbing a can of whip cream, a bottle of caramel, hershey chocolate, strawberry sauce, a jar or fresh red cherries and finally a pack of peanuts, as he came up with the idea of making banana splits, recalling Mrs. Pines grabbing several bananas not so long ago.

Joshua hastily made his way to the drinks aisle and grabbed a two liter of ginger-ale, before making his way to the checkout section. However, Mrs, Pines never told him which checkout line she'll be in, forcing Joshua to look around for a few moments or so. As he looked around, he heard his name being called.

"Joshua! Over here!"

Joshua turned around and saw Mrs. Pines waving her hand at the fifth checkout, much to his relief, as he made his way to her, trying to balance all of the items in his hands.

"Oh my," Mrs. Pines gasped. "Do you need help with all that?"

Joshua nodded his head as he sat the items inside the grocery cart. "Naw, that won't be necessary ma'am."

"All right then," Mrs. Pines accepted Joshua's answer.

When they got to the front, both Joshua and Mrs. Pines upload the groceries for the cashier to scan them. Mrs. Pines paid the groceries, while another employee load them into the bags and put them into the grocery cart. After getting the changes back, Mrs. Pines and Joshua exited the store and headed to the family vehicle, which was a 2015 silver Buick Verano and put the groceries in the trunk, before closing it, got inside and drove towards home.

* * *

On their way home, Mrs. Pines decided to engage small talk with Joshua. "So Joshua, how are you feeling overall? Are you living comfortably?"

"Oh yeah, Mrs. Pines. It's been rather quiet and peaceful, which is very unusual for me," Joshua replied.

"Why is having peace and quiet became a rarity to you?" Mrs. Pines asked. Joshua bashfully scratch the back of his head.

"Well, let's just say that I don't have a great relationship with my family is all."

Mrs. Pines shook her head in shock; to think that Joshua's relationship with his family was being less than stellar. Despite what the agents informed them of the situation that Joshua was in, she did at least felt that the teenager did have some level of serenity with his family. To be told otherwise by Joshua himself, however, made Mrs. Pines to begin wondering just how bad things were, but for the sake of her guest's well being and emotional clarity, she'll leave it as it is for now.

* * *

Mrs. Pines and Joshua arrived at home driving inside the garage, both of them got out and carried the groceries inside the house and to the kitchen. Since the Pine's residence have a door inside their garage, both of them didn't have to worry about entering the house in the front, which made carrying the groceries more easily rather than going back and forth. Five minutes later, Joshua and Mrs. Pines finished putting up all the groceries.

"There! Done!" Mrs. Pines clapped her hands. "Thank you for helping me Joshua."

"Oh, you're quite welcome, Mrs. Pines," Joshua respond casually. "Anything else you need?"

"Actually…" Mrs. Pines began. "I've noticed that you got whip cream, a bottle of caramel, hershey chocolate, strawberry sauce, a jar or fresh red cherries and a pack of peanuts. Can you tell what is all of this is for?"

"I-I thought it would be a good idea to make banana splits." Joshua answered nervously, before letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Pines. When I decided to get ice cream for dessert, an idea came up after recalling you getting several bananas earlier, so I thought we can make banana splits. I wanted to surprise you, but I should have asked you first beforehand."

Joshua looked away as he prepared for an expected scowling from Mrs. Pines. When he made eye contact to his caretaker, he was taken back by Mrs. Pines facial expression; expecting to see a glare from her, her eyes glowed brightly with her iris sparkled with approval and a smile that literally warmed up the whole kitchen. Joshua stared at Mrs. Pines, before speaking.

"Uh… Mrs. Pines, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Joshua," Mrs. Pines answered. "I'm just thinking whether you're psychic or not. Are you psychic?"

"I'm not psychic, ma'am," Joshua replied honestly. This caused Mrs. Pines to playfully huffed and rolling her eyes, clearly not buying Joshua's answer.

"You must be lying to me, Joshua," Mrs. Pines teased. "Otherwise, you would have never find out my favorite dessert is!"

"Mrs. Pines I can assure you that I'm not-" Joshua stopped as he recount his caretaker words. "Wait, banana splits happened to be your favorite dessert?"

"Of course," Mrs. Pines said with a smile. "While I have eaten a lot of sweets throughout my life, there's nothing that can beat a homemade banana split. It's been my favorite since childhood and it hasn't changed one bit since."

"I see," Joshua laughed, bashfully rubbing the back of his head, before sighing in relief. "But still, I should have asked you beforehand, so I'm sorry Mrs. Pines, for making you blow off extra cash like that where you could use that for something far more important."

Mrs. Pines went up to Joshua and gently patted his head. "Don't be Joshua, I always love to make my guests feel right at home in every way possible, so don't beat yourself up over something minor."

Joshua became completely flushed from the maternal affection that his caretaker was giving him, but it allow him to relaxed a bit more easily. Over the past few days, living with the Pines, Joshua made an self made vow to not cause trouble or do anything unnecessarily, big or small, mainly because he didn't want to be a nuisance. Despite Mrs. Pines insist that he could ask her anything, Joshua tried not to exploit his caretaker generosity as a way to restrained himself and the added fact that he would eventually leave the Pines family when things get under control back home.

"Anyway, I'll be in the guest room in case you need me again Mrs. Pines." Joshua said.

"Alright Joshua, I'll be here in the kitchen making lunch for you and the twins." Mrs. Pines answered.

Joshua nodded his head and made his way to the guest room, almost forgetting that Mabel and Dipper went to school today, since he was too busy helping Mrs. Pines around with her errands all morning long. While he was out with his caretaker, Joshua remembered asking what time do the twins usually come home, to which Mrs. Pines answered around between three twenty and four since both twins would sometimes stay at the campus for a bit. Joshua immediately understood and would have to wait a bit longer for them come home as he felt being here without the Pines Twins around is admittedly boring.

* * *

Upon arriving the guest room, Joshua began to brainstorm on what he can do to pass the time. He looked at the TV and came across a possible choice of watching some shows. A quick scroll through the channels and Joshua immediately decided to pass of watching television, since there was nothing interesting to watch and the shows that he liked only happened to be reruns, much to his annoyance.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Joshua sat down on his bed and then laid his whole body on the mattress. As he laid on his comfortable bed, the blonde haired teenager begin to think of other means to entertain himself. Joshua did considered reading one of his favorite action and adventure books, the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, but he quickly realized that he wouldn't be able to read them, as he didn't bring any books with him, much to his frustration. He does have his New red colored Nintendo 3DS on him, but he shot it down almost immediately, as Joshua was frankly not in the mood to play video games, which only leave to one more option.

With another sigh, Joshua got out his cell phone, which is an LG G4 smartphone and clicked on the Youtube app conveniently located on the front page.

"I wonder if there are any new videos uploaded from any of my favorite channels?"

* * *

Meanwhile, at Millennium High School, lunch has begun and the students were in the cafeteria, with some of them lining up eating their meals, while others were already at the tables eating their food in socializing bliss. There were a few students, however, that decided to eat inside the buildings.

In the school library lies an exhausted Dipper Pines, his face laying on a table, due to skipping lunch and wanting to finish his homework early, so he can have the whole day free doing other things. He unzipped his back, got out his science book and opened it along with his notebook, as he took a sip of his small carton of milk. "Hmm…" Dipper scratched the top of his head with his pencil before jotting down answers and notes with breeze.

Dipper appreciate the peace and quiet that the library can provide him. His sister Mabel was at art class, working on what she considered "a special project" and she needed to be inside her elective class throughout her lunch period. Dipper immediately understood as she never questioned her activities when it comes to her school life despite her everyday antics get on his nerves to no end.

Dipper then began to think about Joshua and for good reason; Since he doesn't have to go school given his circumstances, Joshua was left to his own devices at the house. Even though his mother would be at home today, it didn't make it any less bothering for Dipper that a mere stranger was staying at his home. He quickly shook his head and focus on his homework assignment instead, clearing his thoughts and resume on his work. Normally, he wouldn't let such random thoughts distract his studies, there was always a sense of dread that he can't completely shake off. Perhaps maybe he should begin to speak up a bit more; that was one simple way to know more about Joshua and it would ease the stress and weariness he felt and it would be beneficial for him, but it was easier said than done.

Letting out another sigh, Dipper continued on his work, putting Joshua on the back of his mind for the moment. But despite this, he would inevitably have to come to terms with Joshua living with him and his family and he had to confront him sooner or later, hoping that doing so will become less stressful, with the tension between them dying down, as well as making things less awkward for them.

After much time has passed the bell rang marking the end of lunch and the begin of seventh period. With no time to waste, Dipper Pines put his textbook and notebook in his backpack, exited the library and made his way to the basketball court as he has P. E. for his last class period for the day with being the few classes that Mabel don't share the same class period.

 _'Okay, let's get PE over with,'_ Dipper thought, as he sat down and wait for the PE teacher to arrive.

* * *

It seemed like an eternity, but the school bell rang for the last time, officially ending school, as numerous teenagers barged through the entrance door to head home or in the mood to go and grab a bit to eat at the local fast food restaurants nearby. At the entrance stood Mabel Pines sitting on the concrete stairs waiting for her brother Dipper.

"Hmm, I wonder what's Dip-Dip taking so long," Just then the optimistic teenager heard her brother's voice.

"Hey Mabel."

"Dipper!" Mabel quickly turned around to greet her brother, only to be stopped upon seeing her brother's condition. His body, particularly his face, arms and some of his legs, were covered in mud and dirt. His knees were badly scraped, revealing dried up blood and cuts and his elbows were bruised up as well. Lastly, his left eye was bloodshot red as if someone doused his eye with salt and lemon juice.

Mabel ran towards her brother and gave him a huge bear hug. "Dipper, what happened to you?! Did you got into a fight?"

Dipper winched in pain. "Ow! Mabel I'm fine and no I didn't get int-"

"I'll hunt those bastards down and make them suffer!" Mabel declared.

"Mabel…" Dipper muttered annoyingly.

"They'll be sorry for pick on my little brother," Mabel continued on.

"Mabel!" Dipper shouted as loud as he could, trying to get his twin sister to hear him.

"They would soon see this adorable girl is a firecracker, one with a black belt in karate!" Mabel then posed an infamous amateurish karate stance.

"MABEL!" Dipper yelled, finally getting his sister's attention.

"Yes, Dipper?" she simply asked.

"First, there was no fight. Second, today's PE class was completely hectic! Lastly, you are not a black belt." Dipper point out.

Mabel waved a dismissive hand. "Nonsense! I happened to take on almost anything that threw our way! Don't you remember back in Gravity Falls four years ago?"

Dipper let out a sigh. Even though Mabel clearly wasn't martial arts material, there was no denying his sister can hold her own from the many adversaries that came in her way, even when she was twelve year old. After all, she handled herself well from a group of gnomes with a simple leaf blower and managed to rescued Pacifica at the mini golf course from the Lilitputtians, whom both twins made a deal of helping to defeat her rival prior to her change of heart, which ended up heading south as the Lilitputtians kidnapped the stuck up blonde and try to kill her, resulting both Mabel and Dipper himself turning their backs on them and ultimately escape with their lives.

"Yes, I remember Mabel." Dipper finally spoke, "Look, let's just walk home, so I can get in the shower and clean myself up."

"Wait!" Mabel ran after her brother as they walked towards home. "Tell me what happened at PE that made you look like that."

Dipper shook his head frantically. "No, I rather not talk about it." But Mabel would not take no for an answer.

"Come on bro-bro! It can't be that bad!"

"Fine!" Dipper groaned and offer Mabel his side of the story. "At PE today, I had to do the long jump in addition of running laps and doing push ups."

"Pfft! Anyone can do push ups with ease," Mabel said confidently, causing Dipper to give her an eerie glare.

"Really Mabel? Try doing one hundred push ups without stopping and see how far that gets you."

Mabel let out a nervous laugh. "Heh, what doesn't kill you make you stronger!"

Dipper only rolled his eyes and let out a grumble just before arriving at their home and opened the door with his house key, before Mabel hastily barred through the door.

"Ahh, home sweet home!" Mabel shouted as she breathe in and then out before she made her way upstairs with her brother right behind her. They passed the kitchen where they heard their mother's voice.

"Hey, you two!"

"Mom!" Mabel squealed in happiness as she ran towards her giving her mother a bear hug.

"OOF! Hey Mabel," Mrs. Pines smiled, before glancing at Dipper and gasped. "Dipper! What happened to you?!"

Ugh! I don't want to talk about it mom!" Dipper groaned. "If you need me, I'll be in the bathroom changing out of my dirty clothes!"

"Okay sweetie!" Mrs. Pines replied as she watched her son made her way to the bathroom.

"Hey mom, how's Joshua holding up?" Mabel asked. "I know staying home alone had to be very boring for him."

"Actually Mabel, Joshua didn't stay home today," Mrs. Pines points out. "In fact, Joshua decided to come with me on my errands and we went to the grocery store and he's been a nice little helper."

"Really now?" Mabel asked in slight shock.

"Oh yes Mabel. Joshua has slowly began to open up a bit as well." Mrs. Pines answered.

"That's great!" Mabel smiled. "Is Joshua inside his room?"

Mrs. Pines shook her head. "No, he's in the backyard since he wanted to get some fresh air."

"Okay thanks!" Mabel hugged her mom again and then walked out the kitchen, passed through the living room where she arrived at the backyard and instantly saw Joshua sitting on a chair playing on his phone what appears to be a puzzle game.

"Hey Joshua!" Mabel greeted.

"Gahh!" Joshua jumped out of his chair and landed on his back. "Ow…"

"Oops! Sorry I scared you." Mabel nervously chuckled. "How are you today?"

"Ugh! I was fine until you scared the living hell out of me!" Joshua yelled still reeling from being caught off guard from Mabel. "Anyway, how was school Mabel?"

"School was okay. I managed to work on my art project today." Mabel answered.

Joshua raised his eyebrow in slight shock. "You're an artist?"

"Oh Joshua," Mabel started with a confident grin on her face. "My teacher has stated that I'm her star pupil."

"That's impressive." Joshua shooked his head as he looked for Dipper. "Where is your brother?"

"Oh, he's inside taking a shower," Mabel replied.

"Alright," Joshua simply said. "Anyway, since your home do you want to head back inside?"

Mabel let out a happy smug. "Were you waiting for me, Joshua?"

"To be rather honest, yeah. I was waiting for you two to come home, since it can be boring being by myself. It doesn't help that I have to stay in a town I'm not familiar with," Joshua explained.

Mabel gave Joshua her sympathy, as she could imagine what it was like being lonely, recalling her lackluster thirteenth birthday since Dipper was with Stanford Pines all day, Candy Chui and Grenda couldn't celebrate with her, Wendy obvious wasn't able to be present since she was too occupied with the upcoming school year at the time since Summer was coming to a close and Soos was busy with his grandmother. Only Stanley Pines and her pet Waddles was there to comfort her. She mostly moved on since it was a few years but she can't never forget how lonely she was on her special day.

"Aww, I understand how lonely it can be here with no one to hang out with," Mabel comfort Joshua.

"You do?" a surprised Joshua asked.

Mabel nodded her head. "Yeah, I know it sucks to away from the people you care about. Like many of my friends and family are living in Gravity Falls."

"Gravity Falls?" Joshua was very confused that a place would have such an unusual name. "Uh, is that some find of hotel or something?"

"No silly! It's a awesome small town in another state." Mabel laughed.

"Ahh I see you have long distance friends." Joshua pointed out.

"Yep! Say, why don't we go somewhere after Dipper gets out of the shower?" Mabel suggested.

"On a weekday? Won't your mom disapprove going out?" Joshua asked worrying that all three of them might get into heat for being out on a school day.

"Oh nonsense! Our mom is very laid-back!" Mabel clarified. "Besides Dipper and I are never the misfits types of teenagers."

"If that's the case, sure I don't mind going somewhere and it beats being cooped up at the house." Joshua said.

Mabel happily clapped her hands together. "Oh, I got the perfect place we can go to."

* * *

"Come on, the book has to be around here somewhere."

"Ugh! Dipper come on, are you done yet?"

"SSSHHH!"

Mabel let out a grumble as she rolled her eyes. She, Dipper and Joshua were currently at the public library, which was only 3 blocks away from their home. Originally, Mabel had plans to take Joshua and Dipper to the mall again so that they can shop around, but since Dipper wasn't in the mood, due to his experience in PE, they should hang somewhere close and the library was the closest place to go. Mabel strongly objected to this, but ultimately gave in and let Dipper have his way for once.

As she watched Dipper scrolling over numerous books, Mabel walked over to Joshua and was surprise to see him reading a book; normally, it wouldn't be strange, be he had ten stack of books right next to him. If it was Dipper doing that, it would be fine, but from Joshua? Something tells Mabel that her new friend happened to be bookworm like her brother.

"Uh, Joshua?" Mabel asked.

Joshua raised his head and turned around. "Oh hey Mabel. Need something?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry we had to go to a boring place like this." Mabel said as she stood on a nearby chair on her knees moving it back and forth like a rocking chair.

"Don't worry about it, Mabel." Joshua said. "Besides, I'm having a good time here."

"What? Why?!" Mabel asked in shock. "Having fun in a library of all places? Pfft, please Joshua. Don't be afraid at being honest as we all know that you'll only saying that the library is fun where in reality that it's B-O-R-I-N-G."

"Mabel!" Dipper shouted as he walked towards them with a few checked out books stacked in his hands with an irritating glare which Mabel shrugged it off like it is no big deal.

"What? I'm just saying!" Mabel defended.

Dipper rolled his eyes before he noticed the ten bookstack next to Joshua. "Whoa, you're a bookworm yourself?"

Joshua bashfully scratched his head. "Yeah, I happened to read a lot."

"I can see that," Dipper set his books down before he grabbed a book from Joshua's stack. Upon seeing the title of the book he picked out Dipper eyes widen.

"Joshua," Dipper spoke, causing the blonde haired teenager to stop his reading progression and turn to him.

"Yes, Dipper?"

"You read the _Percy Jackson & The Olympians_ books?"

"Read them?" Joshua asked before clearing his throat. "I'm a HUGE fan of the _Percy Jackson_ series." Joshua's response caused Dipper to smile brightly.

"So am I!"

Joshua stared at Dipper intensely for a quick moment before his eyes sparkled. "Dude, I've read and own all of Rick Riordan's books like _The Kane Chronicles_ Trilogy."

"I heard of that series but unfortunately I never brought myself to read them since I wasn't familiar with Egypt myths." Dipper admitted.

"I was on the same boat as well when all three books were released, but I gave them a try and it turned out to be a rather surprising well liked series despite _The Kane Chronicles_ ended in a trilogy," Joshua said.

"I see then," Dipper scratched his chin. "I may looked into that."

Joshua nodded his head. "I think you should since it is from the same author who both wrote _Percy Jackson & The Olympians_ and _The Heroes Of Olympus_ as well."

Mabel looked on at the two boys happily talking for the first time. The optimistic teenager couldn't help but smile brightly seeing them finally bond with each other, but her smile soon turn into a frown as she had a feeling that this was going to take longer than she imagined.

"Looks like we're going to be here for quite a while," Mabel muttered, as she laid back on her chair.

* * *

 **"UGH!"**

"Mabel, that's the sixth time you groaned. Are you sure nothing's bothering you?"

"I'm fine, Dipper."

Dipper shrugged and accepted his sister's answer, before resuming his conversation with Joshua. The trio were now walking home from the library, much to Mabel's relief, even though she was irritated that they didn't left much sooner than she had hoped. Both Dipper and Joshua were so caught up talking about their favorite books and they ended up forgetting the time they suppose to leave; as a result, Mabel, to her dismay was forced to stay in the library longer. She did surf on the internet, courtesy of her library card, but it didn't last long, as everyone have an hour time limit and once her time on the computer was used up, Mabel ended up reading teen girls magazine, while still listening to Dipper and Joshua's conversation from afar. The three of them only managed to leave because the library was closing their doors for the day. All the time on what the trio could be doing are now wasted, since it was now dark and it wouldn't be a good idea to stay out late, especially on a school night and she had Dipper and Joshua to thank for ruining her plans, mainly the former.

"Wow Joshua, I never thought that I would open up to you," Dipper said.

"It's okay if you didn't want to talk to me," Joshua let out a sigh. "I understand since I came here unannounced and with agents surrounding your house. And Frankly I don't blame you to feel that way, most people would feel the same should anyone would be in your family shoes."

"But still, I'm sorry that I gave you the cold shoulder treatment over the past several days," Dipper apologized.

"It's alright Dipper, it's all in the past. It's just move on, okay?" Joshua asked.

"Agreed!" Dipper answered with much approval. Mabel looked at the two boys and sighed. She was happy that Joshua and her brother are finally boning with each other but the optimistic teenager can't deny how disappointed she feels since it wasn't the direction Mabel wanted to go. In any case Dipper and Joshua are enjoying each other company now and that what really matters.

But unbeknownst to the trio, they were being followed by someone who has a few goons standing behind their ringleader's back hiding in a nearby alleyway, all of whom wearing long brown trench coats and brown hats to concealed their faces.

"Are you sure we are following the right person?" A male voice asked.

"Ugh, none of the three teenagers closely resembled our target," Another male voice spoke with impatience. "This is a complete waste of time!"

"Oh shut up with your complaining!" A female voice yelled with annoyance.

"Will you all be quiet?!" The ringleader ordered, to which all three of her goons complied, showing her authority over them "Now, I'm pretty sure that the kid with blonde hair is our target as according to my sources our intended target would most likely to be in disguise."

"Are you really sure?" The first male asked with doubt filling his tone.

"It's a no brainer! If anyone would be in a witness protection program, the person would do anything to keep their existence hidden and some would go the extra mile and alter their appearances." The first female explained in a matter of fact attitude.

"That's a very valid point," The second male pointed out with approval.

The second female only rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright let's move out," The ringleader female ordered. "And followed my lead."

Her goons nodded in unison and the gang marched into the night to get their prey.

* * *

"Mom! Dad! We're home!" Mabel called out as She, Dipper and Joshua arrived at the house.

"We're in the living room kids!" Mr. Pines shouted.

The trio went to the living room where they saw Mr and Mrs. Pines sitting in the living room watching TV together.

"Hey you kids, did you have fun?" Mrs. Pines asked.

"Absolutely not, mom," Mabel sighed. "We ended up going to the library because Dipper wanted to go there. I wanted to take them to the mall, but a certain little brother lost track of time."

Dipper groaned. "Ugh, Mabel I said I was sorry! We both lost track of time due to both Joshua and I were discussing our favorite books when I discovered that Joshua was into similar genres I liked."

"You and Joshua talked to each other? That's great!" Mrs. Pines smiled while her husband cocked his right eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah, Dipper and I bonded almost instantly upon finding out share one similar interest." Joshua said as he bashfully scratched the back of his head.

"Well that's good to hear," Mrs. Pines said with happiness. "Here, since I'm too exhausted to make dinner tonight you kids can go out and get something to eat."

"Sounds good to me!" Mabel happily cheered as she walked towards her mom and grabbed a twenty dollar bill.

"Thanks, Mrs. Pines," Joshua formally bow to show his gratitude. "We won't be gone long."

Mrs. Pines chuckled at Joshua's kindness. "No need to be so formal, sweetie. Now hurry on out and get your food before it gets too dark. You two have school tomorrow as well."

The trio of kids nodded and rushed towards the door and left leaving Mr. and Mrs. Pines alone.

"Ahh, I'm glad that Dipper opened up to Joshua." Mrs. Pines smiled.

"Dear, I dunno why you should be happy about this." Mr. Pines spoke with sternness. "Frankly I dunno why you accepted the daunting task of taking him in!"

"Come on now dear, It's been several days since Joshua stayed here and so far he's polite, well mannered and nice to everyone including you and you only rebuffed him. The very least you could do is try to civil with our guest!" Mrs. Pines explained calling out for her husband treatment towards Joshua.

"Honey, I'm only try to be cautious due to the fact I know almost next to nothing about him," Mr. Pines points out.

"And that's why you're always on edge! Maybe if you actually talk to him once in awhile you know more about him rather than being left in the dark and continue to be grumpy!" Mrs. Pines shot back.

Mr. Pines rolled shook his head in frustration as he got up and left the living room clearly in a sour mood don't feel like talking anymore on the subject leaving his wife alone in the living room.

Mrs. Pines let out a sad sigh. "Look like I made him mad. I'll let him cool off for the night."

* * *

"Ahhh, that was so good!" Mabel rubbed her stuffed belly, before letting out a loud belch.

"Seriously, Mabel?" Dipper became repulsed by his sister's lack of manners.

"What? I had to let it out!" Mabel defended her actions.

Dipper only face palmed before turning to Joshua who is currently munching on a chocolate chip cookie. The trio ended up eating and dining at Subway since all of them had a mood for sandwiches and chips. Mabel had a meatball marinara sandwich with sour cream and onions flavored chips, while Dipper had an Italian melt sandwich with cheddar flavored chips and lastly Joshua had a chicken teriyaki sandwich with salt and vinegar flavored chips. At the last minute Joshua decided to get three cookies to treat his friends with each getting one cookie. He decided to get raspberry cheesecake flavor for Mabel, oatmeal raisin for Dipper and chocolate chip for himself.

"Hey Joshua, how are you holding up?" Dipper asked. Joshua gulped down the last bits of his cookie before speaking.

"I'm holding up good now thanks to both of us getting along now."

"That's good to know and yeah, I'm also glad things are now no longer awkward between us." Dipper agreed.

"Yeah and I'm also can't wait for _The Trails Of Apo_ -"

Joshua was cut off as he bumped into a large imposing figure. "Oh, I'm sorry that I bumped into you sir. Didn't noticed you."

"Ohh, it's quite alright young man." A female voice spoke in a soft tone.

"Thank you. If you excuse us, we'll be heading our way," Joshua said as he walked the other way.

"Wait!" The female woman called out. "I'm a little lost so can you show me the way?"

Joshua nodded his head "Uh sorry miss I can't help you. I'm new here as well so good day ma'am."

"Oh come on! You have to at least know some-" The female voice was cut off by Mabel.

"Um, I can help you miss." The optimistic teenager offered, only to see the female figure turned away.

"Uh, that won't be necessarily."

Dipper quickly felt suspicious upon getting a better look at the female figure and her behavior. Something was off about her, from the way she dressed and her current behavior was very bizarre and unusual. Just then, he noticed a few figures wearing similar trench coats as the one the female figure in front of them was wearing. Dipper could sense that something was way off and it was time for them to leave right now.

But before he could be given the chance to do so, Dipper then saw the female figure holding what appears to be a black object.

"Mabel! Joshua! Get out of there!" Dipper cried.

"Huh?" Joshua and Mabel turned around and faced Dipper before staring at back at the female figure who quickly made her move and hit Joshua with her weapon. The resulted action caused the blonde haired teenager to shake frantically and uncontrollably before collapsing on the ground much to the shock of the pine twins. They now realized that the female figure weapon is a taser.

"Joshua!" Mabel cried before she faced the female attacker. "What did you do that for?!"

"Nothing personal, brunette," The female figure spoke as she smug. "This kid here has been under our radar for days and now that we found him we're gonna take him off of your kid's hands."

"Oh no you don't! You're not taking Joshua!" Mabel declared as she launched a punch at the female figure only for her attack to be blocked and easily countered with a swift jab to her stomach.

"ARGH!" Mabel groaned in pain as she fell down on her butt causing Dipper to run towards his sister to cater to her.

"Mabel!" Dipper cried. "Who exactly are you guys?!"

Slowly but surely Dipper, Mabel and an unconscious Joshua found themselves surrounded with three other figures that Dipper himself quickly recognized the same figures he spotted on the corner moments ago. He instantly knew that something bad was happening now.

Before Dipper could try to plan a way out a male figure walked towards him. "Don't even think about planning anything funny or you'll regret it."

Dipper gritted his teeth in frustration, now knowing that the four figures are onto him resulting him to give in. For now that is.

"Good, glad we came with an agreement." The second male figure grinned.

The second female figure came up to Joshua to wake him up by slapping him numerous times across the face. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"Geez, exactly what cartridge did you use?" The male figure asked in wonder.

The female ringleader checked her taser. "It's a x26 level taser."

All of her goods eyes widened with shock.

"Are you mad woman?!" The second male figure asked his boss.

The first male figure agreed. "Don't you think that's a bit overkill?"

The ringleader only shrug off her goons concerns with cold indifference. "Who cares? The taser did the job like I expected to. That's all it matters."

Both Dipper and Mabel were completely taken back by the female ringleader coldness and cruelty and even the two male goons were deeply turned off by their bosses ruthlessness.

The second female shook Joshua's body before she got a response from him. "Hey, he's waking up!"

"Good work, now keep him pinned down so he won't try to get away," The ringleader ordered.

"Aye Aye, ma'am!" The second female ordered as she got behind Joshua's back and gripped his arms and hands together.

Joshua begin to wake up and upon opening his eyes he saw Dipper and Mabel on the ground being surrounded by the two male goons and discovered his arms and hands in a tight position.

"What the hell? Dipper! Mabel! what's going on?!" Joshua demanded.

"If I was you blondie, I would stand perfectly still that if you don't want your friends to stay intact." The second female warned.

"What in the, I can't move!" Joshua cried as he faced the ringleader who was standing in front of him. "Y-you!"

The ringleader evilly smiled. "Well well well, you gave us quite a headache looking for you. But that's all in the past. Now that I got you where you are it's time to for you be delivered to my boss."

"What?" Joshua asked in confusion before shaking his head. "I dunno who you guys are!"

"Oh do you think you could just run away and hide and everything will be all flowers and roses starting over with a clean plate?" The ringleader mocked the blonde haired teenager.

"What's she blabbering about, Joshua?" Mabel asked.

"Well life doesn't go that way kid." The ringleader sneered. "Now it's time for you to head back home Beckham."

"Beckham?" Both Dipper and Mabel spoke in confused unison and the ringleader along with her goons cursed themselves as they were ordered not to say certain words to avoid to be found out. Now that the ringleader made that tactical blonder it was gonna cost them big time.

"Wait, how did you know any of that?" Joshua asked suspiciously before realization dawned over him as he faced the ringleader with an intense glare. "You were sent to find me, huh?"

The ringleader shook her head dismissively. "N-no! We are from the human trafficking business!"

Joshua wasn't buying the ringleader's claim. "If that's the case you guys would knocked all three of us out and be on your merry way rather than stalling out here and being only interested in me particular."

The ringleader was sweating profusely now clearly being found out. "Uh…"

"Someone send you four after me! Admit it!" Joshua called out on them.

"Silence!" The ringleader shouted. "You're coming with us whether you like to or not!"

"I don't think so," Joshua back headbutted the second female figure to the mouth causing her to retreat and holding her mouth releasing Joshua's arms and hands.

"OW! My mouth!" The second female cried as she groaned in pain.

"Bastard!" The two male goons ran towards Joshua who was now free and they attempted to tackle and pinned him down only for Joshua jumped over them resulting the two goons to collide their heads with each other.

Dipper and Mabel quickly got up on their feet and Joshua grabbed both their hands and dragged them.

 **"RUN!"** Joshua shouted as they ran as fast as they could to lose them and turned on a right corner.

"After them!" The ringleader shouted as she ordered her henchmen to follow the trio only to find them still reeling in pain, much to the ringleader's dismay. "Are you serious!?"

"Hey, we're in pain too, boss!" The second female complained.

"Fine! Have it your way!" The ringleader left her goons behind and followed the trio's trail. "Damn it, you're not getting away from me!"

A few minutes have passed for the ringleader to pass on by the donut shop where unknown to the female mob boss, Dipper, Mabel and Joshua was hiding having their face covered by the newspaper.

"Is she gone?" Mabel asked in slight fear.

"Yeah I think so." Joshua answered, but remained cautious. "But let's trend towards home carefully. Do you have any alternative routes to get home?"

Dipper nodded his head. "I know this one route we can take but…"

"But what?" Joshua asked.

Dipper sighed. "You'll see why."

* * *

"Come on we're almost there!" Mabel shouted to her brother, who was wheezing heavily from all the running he had to go through.

"I never imagined that part of the neighborhood we walked through would be this crazy!"

After much time has pass what feels like an eternity Dipper, Mabel and Joshua arrived at home. They were all sweating and huffing heavily from running and for good reason; wanting to avoid being caught by the female ringleader and her henchmen the trio took an alternative route to get home. But the route they took is rather infamous for being populated by pet owners with the majority being dog lovers which is wasn't the problem, but what was in that the fences were very old, worn out, rusty and very short making it easily for some dogs to jump over. And what also didn't help is how careless the dog owners are since most owners don't restrained them with a leash or anything.

Well such a simple oversight ended up becoming the trio worst part at getting back home. Several dogs managed to escape by jumping over the fence resulting Dipper, Mabel and Joshua to run for the lives and while they struggled to outrun them the trio ultimately managed to lose them only by hiding inside a trash can much to everyone's dismay and disgust. After losing the dogs the trio resumed heading home by running since they were still weary of the ringleader tracking them down.

After entering the house and locking the door the trio collapsed on the floor in relief.

"Ugh, so good to be back home." Mabel spoke in relief.

"No kidding," Joshua agreed. "That was a close call."

Dipper got on his feet with a stern expression. "Joshua, was the hell was that?!"

"I don't know any of those people, but I have a hunch that someone send those people after me," Joshua answered as he let out a sigh clearly realized how bad the situation escalated.

 **"What?!"** Dipper shouted in shock.

"Joshua, what if the person who send those people after you is.. someone you personally know?" Mabel suggested.

Joshua scratched his chin. "That may be a possibility. Regardless I have to tell your parents about this."

Dipper nodded his head. "Okay, but let's tell the tomorrow since I'm tired and it's late as it is. Plus we have to get up early since Mabel and I have school. Also, I need to take a shower after hiding in that dumpster."

"You and me both bro." Mabel nodded her head.

"Agreed," Joshua said as he got up on his feet along with Mabel. "I'll see you guys later. Goodnight."

The trio bid each other goodnight and went to their respective rooms to turn in for the night wanting to put everything that happened to them behind.

Joshua entered his room and collapsed on the bed. He wanted to go to bed but he really need to take a shower to wash off the terrible stench after being inside a dumpster for several minutes. As he got undress he thought back at their encounters with the mysterious trench coats figures and begin to wonder how they have information only Joshua himself knows. Something told him that someone he knows send him but he can't say who though.

Letting out a sigh, Joshua shook his head, as he entered the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

Dipper Pines sat on his chair, as he changed out of his clothes, but he couldn't get the frightening encounter out of his mind. It made him think about Joshua in particular since based on what they said, someone send them to retrieve the blonde teacher. All of this made numerous questions popped into his mind; from who's the instigator that send those people after him all the way to uncovered Joshua's background and to find out the real reason why he's staying here in the first place as what had transpired today made him think that Joshua's reasons of living here may be something far more serious.

Dipper Pines let out a defeated sigh and decided that he'll get to the bottom of his worries tomorrow since it is late and he need to hop into bed. He exited his bedroom and walked towards the bathroom in the hallway to he can take his shower and call it a night.

* * *

Meanwhile Mabel Pines were inside her bathroom taking a long bath since she wanted herself to get relaxed and wine down so she can go to sleep a bit easier and it also allow her to write in her diary.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Today has been a rather hectic day but to start off on a happy note are the good news, Dipper finally opened up to Joshua after it seems like an eternity! We were at the library when this happened and while I was less than receptive that the two boys bond in a library of all places (seriously, I wanted to go to the mall and take them to somewhere fun and not boring) aside from that I'm very happy that Dipper and Joshua are now friends._

 _Now for the bad news, a half hour earlier we had an bizarre (even for my standards) but frightening encounter with four weird looking figures wearing brown hats and long trench coats that made them look like bounty hunters or something. Aside from all three of us being held against our will what really caught both Dipper and I a curveball is that the ringleader called Joshua as Beckham. That really gave me a gut feeling that these people may know more about Joshua than we do. I know one thing though, we have to tell our parents about this although I'm very worried how our parents would take this news._

Mabel finished writing her diary entry and cleaning herself before getting out the bathtub before quickly got dressed into her pajamas, turned off her TV shutting off her bedroom lights and hoped into bed.

* * *

" **ARGH!** I can't believe that we failed to catch that boy! He was in our grasp!"

"Oh please you lucky the blonde kid didn't head-butt me in my nose! Ahh! I think he broke my nose!"

"You are so pathetic, it is rather funny to see you like this."

"Oh, I am so gonna make you eat those words!"

 **"Enough!"** Everyone stopped on what they were doing and resumed their businesses. The four trench coat figures are now presently at a nearby gas station where they are getting a few snacks.

The female ringleader is standing near the door being grumpy, the second female figure is in the back trying to find bandages for her nose that is bleeding a bit and the two male figures are scrolling at the refrigerator for drinks. The cashier, who is a male was staring at the the four figures with suspicion as their presence and very little facial features made the cashier very uneasy.

"Okay, we need to form another plan to get the kid," The ringleader whispered.

"I agree but what can we do? It's not like we know where the kid lives," The first male figure points out.

"Well regardless we can't afford to fail next time," The ringleader warned.

"How much is this bottle of ginger-ale cost sir?" The second male figure asked.

"Um, two bucks sir," The cashier answered.

The second male figure nodded. "Okay thanks! I know what I'm getting!"

 **And that's a wrap for Chapter 2 ladies and gentleman! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I apologized for the long wait but I wanted to make chapters with the quality I wanted to be so that it would match each episode as for each chapter. So It took longer than I thought it would be.**

 **I know the story is starting up slow but bear with me, it won't be long till things get exciting.**

 **Till then I'll see you in the next chapter! Ciao!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am soooooo sorry for the long wait but here's the third chapter! Enjoy!**

 _-Piedmont California, 3:15 p.m.-_

"Okay class, now that we're done reading chapter ten early, you all have free time for the rest of the period."

All the students nodded, as they relaxed and let out a sigh of relief that they managed to finished their classwork a lot sooner than everyone expected. Nonetheless, the students were now using the remaining time they still have to do whatever they please, so as long as they don't want to make too much noise.

In the back left of the classroom, Mabel Pines was laying her head down on top of her biology textbook, very tired from all that reading she was forced to do and she couldn't wait to get home to take a long nap, but for now, she can nonetheless took her free time by resting her eyes.

After much time have passed, the long awaited bell finally rang, causing all of the students to rush out off of campus, now that school was finally over. It was Friday and everyone were getting ready for the weekend, doing nothing but to rest, relaxed and have fun after a rather hard week at school. Some of the teachers were setting a handful of students for their midterms, much to the dismay to some of the unfortunate ones, but for the most, everyone else didn't have to worry about midterms till next year in the spring season.

Mabel Pines was currently sitting on a nearby rock, waiting for her twin brother to arrive and soon enough, she saw a very tired Dipper slowly walking downstairs. Mabel ran towards him, feeling very concerned for his well being.

"Dipper!" Mabel cried. "Are you okay? You look awful. So awful, in fact, that you look like a zombie."

"Gee, thanks for pointing that out!" Dipper snapped, before looking down regrettably. "I'm sorry Mabel, but my teacher has been hammering us down with studying for our midterms a bit early, even though we don't have midterms until next year."

"Ugh, I know, right? It's only like mid October!" Mabel pointed out.

"Yeah, but you also forget that there are some students like you and me who have teachers that not only are strict, but demand complete obedience and great expectations from us," Dipper stressed on the last part of his words.

Mabel let out a frustrating sigh, as she completely understood what Dipper was talking about; her biology class happened to be run by a teacher who have similar rules and philosophy when it comes to students and their classwork. In fact, she can recall back a month ago, where she was just starting the new school year, where her biology teacher made the students dive head first into their textbooks and classwork on the second day, whereas most teachers be rather lenient on the first week of school and start classwork on the second week of school. Eventually, Mabel got used to it by now, but it didn't make it any less frustrating to deal with it.

"I feel you Dipper, but school is over, so let's not mope about it and finally head on home!" Mabel smiled.

"Your right, Mabel. We shouldn't keep Joshua waiting, he's probably slowly dying from boredom," Dipper joked on the last part.

"That's the spirit!" Mabel cheered.

The Pine twins begin walking towards home, both breathing out a sigh of relief, now that school was now over. Plus, since it was Friday, they have the whole weekend to have fun and relaxation with their parents and Joshua. Speaking of which, Dipper and Joshua have slowly became friends over the past few days, much to Mabel and Mrs. Pines delight, as it spell the end of both boys being awkward with each other.

However, not everything was peaceful at home; both twins were very weary from their encounter with the brown trench coat figures and Joshua haven't informed their parents about it. Scratched that, he did try to tell their parent about the encounter at all. One way or another, however, Mabel would always changed the subject or by cutting him off whenever Joshua would bring it up.

It became quite evident that Mabel don't want their parents to know, because she was very afraid of how their parents would take the news well and she didn't want Joshua to suffer from her father's wrath. While Dipper was less enthusiastic about his sister hiding the encounter from their parents, especially since it would likely put all of their well being and safely in jeopardy, there was no denying that he too felt very nervous about telling their mother and father about it. Although their mother had been very loving and kind to Joshua, their father, however, was another story, as he was still being very distant and rather cold to him, even though the cause of his attitude was not without reason.

Regardless, both were very scared of telling their parents about it, unsure of what would happen. Their father would be completely upset and would likely want to call it quits, probably wanting Joshua to leave immediately and while their mother was rather nice and understanding, Dipper and Mabel were aware of how far her kindness can go and their mom was no exception. They have seen how fierce their mom can be when crossed, provoked or when her family's safety was compromised and she was the type of woman who doesn't back down from anything or anyone. With this knowledge in mind, the twins were afraid that their mom would side with their father and would want to kick Joshua out as well. The thought of their new friend being on the street homeless and to fend for himself send shivers down their spine.

But as much as the whole situation terrified them, both twins know that they would have to tell their parents the truth, if it meant everyone could relax again.

* * *

"Mom, Dad, Joshua we're home!" Mabel called out.

"We're in the living room kids!" Mrs. Pines answered back.

Dipper and Mabel walked towards the living room and upon entering, they saw Mr. and Mrs. Pines, as well as Joshua, watching television from the couch, much to the twins shock.

"Hey kids!" Mrs. Pines greeted them, "How was school, you two?"

"It was tiresome, but nothing overwhelming thankfully," Dipper replied. "What's going on here?"

"Your mom and I were discussing about a few places that we can go this weekend," Joshua replied.

This cause both twins to smile brightly. "Really?! That means we're going to go camping like you promised?" Mabel asked.

Mrs. Pines shook her head. "No sweetie, but I want to take you three kids somewhere to have fun, now that all three of you are getting along. Plus, it would make up the camping trip we had to cancel at the last minute."

"Oh, okay! Good enough for me," Mabel cheered with much happiness, with Dipper being excited of going out as well and Joshua had become more involved with the Pines family, becoming a bit more open. Mr. Pines, who was sitting on his large brown colored sofa chair, stared at his wife and two children in disbelief that his family are getting along with as he saw fit a mere stranger.

 _"I can't believe this is actually happen,"_ Mr. Pines thought, as he watched everyone laughing.

"Anyway, since you guys are home how about we go out for a bit?" Mrs. Pines suggested.

Dipper, Mabel and Joshua all nodded, causing Mrs. Pines to smile. "Excellent we'll leave at seven thirty be ready by then."

The trio nodded their heads again and headed upstairs to the respective rooms to rest for a bit.

"Honey, I'm going to be somewhere, while you guys be out so have fun," Mr. Pines said, causing his wife to turn towards him and grabbed his hand.

"Oh no you don't," Mrs. Pines started. "You are coming with us, mister!"

Mr Pines glared at his wife. "Dear, I don't want to go out with a mere stranger accompanied with us!"

"Honey, don't be that way and by the way stop calling our guest a stranger! He has a name you know!" Mrs. Pines argued.

"Ugh, fine!" Mr. Pines flailed his arms in frustration. "I'll go with you guys."

Mrs. Pines smiled brightly, as she made her way upstairs wanting to to get a head start and to look for possible places that the family can go.

"Ugh! what did I got myself into?" Mr. Pines asked out loud, hoping something to give him an answer, only to received nothing but silence.

* * *

Mabel Pines was lying on her bed while she was watching TV. As she was watching, she thought about her friends and family back at Gravity Falls. Despite keeping in touch of everyone via long distance through her cellphone, internet and email, she hadn't been to the small town since defeating Bill from taking over Gravity Falls and she, Dipper, Wendy, Soos, Stan, Ford and all of the surviving residents were able to prevent Weirdmageddon from happening. Since returning home from their epic summer vacation, she and her brother have been occupied with school and when they start attending high school last year, they have been even busier than ever, getting through every schoolwork in their way, all jut to prepare them for adulthood and college.

Letting out a sigh, Mabel Pines laid back on her bed to rest for a bit.

* * *

Dipper Pines was surfing the television, trying to find some paranormal shows, with little to no avail, much to his frustration. He groaned to this, before putting the remote down and looked to the clear blue sky through his bedroom window. As he looked on, his friends and his two great uncles back at Gravity Falls crossed his mind. What an adventure he had on that fateful summer and even though it was a few years ago, he could never forget the times he had and discovering a lot of interesting creatures and supernatural events.

Since getting back home and starting school again, Dipper had been hitting the books and studied hard and ever since starting high a year ago, his academic demands made him ever more busy than ever before, trying his best to get into advanced classes, in hopes of getting as much college credit he needs to finish his education and fulfill out his passionate dreams. He even had to turn down Ford's offer to be his apprentice, as school and being with his sister's side was more important, though he hoped that some day, he can have more adventures with his uncle.

Sipping on a bottle of cold water, Dipper Pines resumed scrolling the channels hoping to find something he can watch.

* * *

Joshua, meanwhile, was currently in the bathroom, taking a long, hot shower cleaning himself after another day of helping around the house and accompanied Mrs. Pines with her errands. Granted, being with his caretaker had made him occupied and busy and he couldn't deny how restless he had become since living with the Pines residence; he wanted to be out of the house more often, but it was easier said than done coming from his situation that a person moving in a city that he hasn't seen or been before for the first time in his or her life. Hopefully, as he spend more time with the Pines family, maybe he can walked around to feel familiar to his surroundings and to start memorizing the streets and areas so he can go out on his own in due time.

Speaking of which, Joshua hadn't forgotten about the figures in their brown trench coats. Despite telling the twins that he would inform their parents about the dreadful encounter, Mr. and Mrs. Pines were oblivious about the incident, but it wasn't for lack of communication, however, as his friend Mabel was making efforts to keep silence about it clearly wanting to avoid her parents to panic and since they know their daughter so well, both parents passed off Mabel's actions as her usual bubbly and random antics.

Even though his friend's innocent antics ended up becoming annoying and very frustrating for him, Joshua completely can't blame Mabel for it; despite wanting to do the right thing and being honest and upfront anything amiss, he too had been very wary about telling them, clearly scared of their reactions. Every time he saw either Mr. or Mrs. Pines, his mind played his worst fear deep into his subconscious; should they find out the truth, both parents, especially Mr. Pines, would scold him for putting their lives in danger and wanting him gone. The last thing he wanted to do is for his presence to endangered a family.

Letting out a frustrated groan, he turn off the water and stepped out of the shower, drying his blonde hair off, before getting dressed into fresh clothes, which consisted of black jeans, white socks, blue short sleeve over his white t-shirt and blue jacket. His shoes is a Nike brand that is white with navy blue stripes on them. Since Mrs. Pines had informed him hours earlier that she planned to take the family out around seven in the evenings Joshua checked the clock on his cell phone to see what time it was. The phone currently reads four fifteen, recognizing that he has time on his hands, before he scrolled on his phone and watch some videos on Youtube.

 _'Why do this have to happen to me?'_ Joshua thought sadly.

* * *

It was now evening and the streets of Piedmont was very lively, with people having a good time, with some in groups of a few friends, while others were taking their boyfriend or girlfriend to a night out on a date, hoping that they would get their big moment and advance their relationship to the next level.

There were, however, a few people that were out in the evening for different reasons altogether and four strangers were sitting at a nearby bench at the park, focusing on planning their next move to capture a certain blond haired teenager.

"Okay, now that we had _plenty_ of time to go over our plan, we can now expect success on capturing our target," The female ring leader spoke with new found confidence.

"Finally, I can get back at Blondie for ruining my beautiful nose!" The second female figure shouted with flames engulfed her eyes with vengeance on her mind.

"Pfft please, you weren't that beautiful to begin with ugly duckling," The male figure mocked.

The second female figure glare at him. "Oh, shut up, you!"

"Enough!" The female ringleader yelled, causing her henchmen to silence themselves. "You two are not going to fight! We need to be at our best performance if we want this plan to succeed. I don't want everyone to be punished by our boss just because we couldn't get along with each other. Now, I want you two stop arguing with each other and work together do I make myself clear?"

Both of her henchman looked at their boss before each other letting out a "HMPH!" sound and walked away to the other direction, much to the dismay and frustration of their boss whom face palmed out of annoyance.

"Ugh, why did I even bother bringing these two along."

Just then the second male figured showed up. "Hey boss, I managed to find out target is."

This cause everyone to stop on what they were doing and look at the second male figure.

"You did?!" The female ringleader asked in shock. "How?!"

"I saw our target inside a vehicle that I saw passed seconds ago from a corner," The second male figure answered.

"You could have called us while you were there!" The first male figure complained. "Now the car is likely long gone!"

"Not to worry, I managed to hook a small boomerang on by throwing it at the one of the tires and it has a small chip which acts as a tracking device," The second male figured showed the gang a small GPS that is the size of a pager showing a red dot and the numerous streets and addresses.

"Awesome work there!" The second female figure complemented.

"Beginner's luck," The first male figure dismissed. "I could have done that with ease."

The second female figure glared at him. "As if, you couldn't even find your boxers this morning where they were in the closest!"

"Too much info, guys!" The female ringleader blushed pink before shaking her head. "Anyway, nice work there."

"Welcome boss," The second male figure smug.

"Okay everyone, let's go!"

The gang nodded their heads and move out following the GPS.

* * *

Elsewhere in Piedmont, the Pines family were currently out for a drive around town. Originally, Mrs. Pines were going to drive towards the mall, since that was where all the restaurants were located, but upon hearing Joshua's request of wanting to see more of the town, Mrs Pines decided to show more of the city. Both Dipper and Mabel didn't mind the detour at all, but judging by the look he had upon Joshua's request, Mr Pines was seemly bothered by it, but never spoke a single word in response to it either.

"Wow, thank you for doing this for me Mrs. Pines," Joshua spoke with much appreciation.

"Oh you're quite welcome dear," Mrs. Pines smiled. "I know how being cooped up in the house can be very boring to you. In fact, I can tell that from all the hours you spent being inside made you think our house is becoming a prison to you."

"O-oh! Not at all, Mrs. Pines!" Joshua shook his head with his face begin to flush pink causing his caretaker to chuckle a bit.

"I'm kidding, Joshua," Mrs. Pines calmed the blonde haired boy down. "But that aside it's good that you want to explore around town and despite the situation you should have the right to go outside and enjoy being a normal teenager."

Joshua look down his face clearly flustered. "T-thank you, Mrs. Pines."

Mrs. Pines smiled. "Your welcome, Joshua."

"I know we haven't hung out often as we should have, but we promise that we'll do better to spend time with you," Mabel said patting her friend's shoulder. "Right, Dipper?"

"Of course," Dipper nodded his head. "School has been keeping us very busy, but still, that was a poor excuse to prevent us hanging out with you a bit more, Joshua."

Joshua looked at Mabel, who had a huge smile on her face, before looking at Dipper, who also had a smile on his face as well. Seeing his news friends by his side made him feel a bit happy and comfortable.

"Thank you, Dipper and Mabel," Joshua spoke with much appreciation.

Both twins nodded their heads to him, reciprocating his feelings in response. While the family were bonding with their guest well ,Mr. Pines interrupted them by rudely clearing his throat, much to his wife's annoyance.

"I know we're having a good time and all, but can we please go where we need to be?"

"Oh hush you!" Mrs. Pines scowled her husband. "We haven't even decided where we want to eat first!" Mrs. Pines turned to the teenagers. "Kids, where do you want to eat tonight?"

"Chili's!" The twins shouted in excitement leaving Joshua being the only person who haven't voiced his place of choice.

"Eh, I'm fine wherever we go. I'm not really picky when it comes to food," Joshua spoke with indifference.

"Chili's it is then!" Mrs. Pines declared and with that she floored the gas petal speeding off towards their destination completely oblivious that the Pines family are secretly being followed.

* * *

"Welcome to Chili's! Party of five?" A female staff greeted upon the Pines family entered the restaurant.

"Yeah, that's right." Mrs. Pines answered.

"Right, give me a sec," The female staff looked at the waiting list before looking back to the Pines family. "Okay, right this way, everyone."

The Pines family and Joshua followed the female staff to their table which is going to be on the second floor near the window allowing the Pines family and Joshua to have a great view of the entire area.

"Okay, here are you menus and a waiter or waitress would be here in a minute," The female staff said.

"Thank you, ma'am," Mrs. Pines nodded her head as she passed the menus to everyone as the female staff took her leave. Upon receiving their menus everyone looked to see what they want to eat, Dipper was looking at the sandwiches menu, Mabel was scrolling at the burgers menu while Mrs. Pines had her eyes on the soup and salad menu and Mr. Pines is looking at the steak menu.

Joshua would be looking at the menu like the rest of the family but his subconscious is busy taunting his worse fears should they found out he's being followed by the trench coat figures. Every time he look at either Mrs. or Mr. Pines, he would visualized them scowling and betraying him for putting their lives in danger and could hear the words showering down towards him.

 _"I can't believe you have these people following you! Thanks to you, my family are in danger!"_ Joshua could hear Mr. Pines shouted him in anger.

Joshua begin to give in to the harsh words where unbeknownst to him Mrs. Pines noticed Joshua' behavior.

 _"I'm sorry… I.. I didn't mean for this to happen…"_ Joshua can hear himself say before hearing Mrs. Pines voice.

 _"And here I thought that you were a well mannered young man but it turns out that you're nothing but a troublemaker!"_ Mrs. Pines roared.

 _"I'm so sorry Mrs. Pines! I really wanted make this work!"_

 _"Well, it's not going to work out! I want you out of our lives!"_ Both Mr and Mrs. Pines shouted in unison as the visualization was coming to a close.

"Joshua, are you okay?" Mabel asked as she reached out her left hand toward her friend's shoulder only to be taken back by Joshua's sudden outburst.

 **"I'M SORRY!"** Joshua shouted with the top of his lungs causing Dipper, Mabel, their parents and some of the customers and staff alike to look on their table with confusion. Upon realizing his sudden outburst has caused a scene, Joshua stormed off, trying to find the nearest bathroom; thankfully, he was able to locate it after some help from a waiter. Upon entering it, he made his way to the sink where he washed his face before looking at the mirror with he can see his faced being pale and crow marks under his eyes.

Letting out a sigh, Joshua glared at the sink sulking. "Ugh, what am I going to do?!"

Joshua was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't noticed that his friend Dipper entered the bathroom.

"Joshua!" Dipper called out. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not, Dipper. My mind is tormenting me with these scenarios of your parents should I tell them about that encounter," Joshua wearily answered. "Hearing their harsh and dreaded voices isn't making things any better for me."

Dipper looked at his friend with sympathy and concern; he himself have thought about the whole situation as well and it has made him being plagued with fear; recently, those fears began to appear in his dreams on a few occasions. Since then, Dipper became adamant of wanting to bring the encounter up to his parents, despite being aware of that his parents would be less than thrill should. Dipper can picture his mother's wrath and turning on Joshua and wanting him out of their house. The thought of the possibility of his mother and father kicking his new friend out, it honestly scared Dipper a lot and it was the sole reason of preventing him to come forward. But now with the dreadful encounter has made Dipper, Joshua and Mabel to look over their shoulder since then and seeing Joshua's mind plaguing him with these fear and eating him up like a cancer it became evident to both boys that they can't keep it hidden anymore.

With a clear answer now settled, Dipper walked towards Joshua and placed his hand on his right right shoulder. "Joshua, it'll be okay because once we leave we're going to tell them."

This caused Joshua to turn towards Dipper with a slight relief loo,k but still had his very weary expression. "That's good, but your parents would want me to leave, which is understandable and all, but I'll be on the streets."

Dipper shook his head. "That won't happen. Mabel and I will do our best to make sure you don't get toss aside."

Joshua could felt his friend's determination and as a result it made his anxiety dissipates a bit. "Thank you Dipper."

"Your welcome, Joshua," Dipper said. "Are you ready to go back?"

Joshua wiped the sweat off his face with his hand. "Ready."

* * *

Dipper and Joshua soon returned to the table where they reunited a concern Mabel and Mrs. Pines but a dismissive Mr. Pines. Dipper and Joshua decided not to tell the parents yet but instead came up with a lie and somehow Mrs. Pines bought into it while Mr. Pines was indifferent Joshua's reasons. Before long they ordered their food and after waiting for a half hour everyone got their food and drinks.

For the rest of the evening, things have became normal, or as close to it; While Joshua still felt dreadful about the situation, he somehow managed to breathe easy and have a good time with the Pines family. Mabel, being her usual optimistic self, had been the most talkative towards him, telling stories about her time at Gravity Falls along with Dipper, but leaving out anything supernatural activity around the small town. Mrs Pines talked for a few moments as well and Dipper was talking up a storm with numerous books and topic he likes to discuss, much to the dismay of Mabel.

After nearly two hours had passed, the Pines family and Joshua decided that it is time to wrap things up and try to get home for the night. Since Mrs. Pines and Mabel wasn't about to finish their foods, both of them requested takeout containers, to which their waiter managed to provided them to while giving them the bill. After putting up their foods in the takeout containers, Mrs. Pines paid the bill and gave the waiter a nice five six dollar tip, which the waiter thanked, as he took the money.

As they waited for the waiter to return with a receipt, Joshua viewed the shopping area and it was filled with lively people out having fun and lights brighten the entire area. It was a pretty good sight for the teenager and it really showed how a small town can have such beauty and life that most people take for granted, especially with his family back home.

Upon recovering from that quick second of fuming over his family ,Joshua noticed a few figures standing out in the crowd who is heading towards Chili's. Upon getting a closer look, he almost jumped and scream; they were the same trench coat figures from last night, no doubt looking for him. Joshua cursed as his bit his lip in frustration that these people were distance away from making an already tense situation to explode for everyone to see.

Joshua was so in shock and fear, that he didn't noticed the Pines family getting up from their seats to leave, causing Mrs. Pines to place her hand on Joshua's shoulder which resulted the blonde teenager to jump in surprise.

"Ahh!"

"Relax Joshua," Mrs. Pines calmed the blonde hair teenager down. "We're leaving right now."

"Oh, okay," Joshua let out a sigh of relief, despite the back of his mind is filled with nervousness and dread.

Letting out another sigh, Joshua got up and walked with the Pines family downstairs, before heading towards the exit, where Joshua saw the four trench coats figures sitting on a nearby bench in the waiting area, as if they are on a lookout for him.

 _"Crap, already they are on my ass like dog hounds picking up one's scent!"_ Joshua cursed as he and Pines family walked closer to the figures as they took their leave. It didn't take long for Dipper and Mabel to spot the trench coat figures from a distance as well causing both of them to panic.

"Oh no, those people are here!" Dipper whispered.

"Damn it all, why can't they just leave us alone?" Mabel asked in frustrated.

"Look, I'll give myself up so I can spare the drama that would and your parents would have to go through." Joshua suggested with a sad sigh.

Dipper quickly shook his head. "No way, we won't let that happen."

"Then how are you gonna get out of this sticky situation then?!" Joshua argued.

"How about we hide our faces with our hoods?" Dipper asked.

"That's obviously not going to work!" Joshua countered his friend's idea causing Dipper to glare at him.

"Do you have any better idea?"

Joshua thought up anything but to no avail leading him to groan in defeat. "I suppose your plan could work."

Without delay, the trio put on their hoods as they walked closer to the trench coats figures and by now they can only hope that the figures would oversight them. Thankfully with a huge crowd of college aged students making a lot of noises possibly coming from the bar area after having a few too many drinks then and there trio managed to blend into the crowd and passed them but just as about they were home free…

"Whoa!" A clumsy waiter, carrying a ton of dishes, lost balance and ended up tripping over a wet puddle that one of the janitor was mopping that particular spot, resulting the tower of dishes to fall on Joshua.

"Ahhh!" The dishes fell on top of the blonde hair teenager resulting him to fall down in pain with the sound of dishes being shattered filling the floor. Since some of the dishes had leftover food on them Joshua is covered in food resulting him to take off his hood to clean himself off. It was at this crucial mistake that the trench coat figures ultimately spotted Joshua.

"Ack! This is just great!" Joshua groaned in disgust.

"Joshua!" Mrs. Pines panicked. "Are you okay sweetie? You're not hurt, aren't you?"

Joshua let out a sigh. "I'm fine, Mrs. Pines. Just covered in food is all.

"YOU!" The female ringleader shouted as she and her goons headed towards the Pines family.

"Ah crap, not this," Joshua muttered in disbelief.

"Finally after hours of looking we finally found you!" The second female spoke with her cracking her knuckles. "Now it's time for payback for damaging my beautiful nose!"

The first male figure snickered. "Your nose wasn't pretty to begin with."

"Shut the hell up!" The second female snapped at him.

Mr. Pines gave the figures a look before facing Joshua with a demanding look. Joshua, Dipper and Mabel had a nervous look on their faces, while their mother was completely oblivious to the whole thing. Both Dipper and Joshua intended to tell the parents about them, but the boys didn't want this to be found out by the same people out in the open for everyone to see.

"Joshua, what did you do to these people?" Mr. Pines asked sternly.

"I.. I…" Joshua stuttered in panic and fear before Dipper came into the conversation.

"Dad, we can explain but first we need to get home now!" Dipper said.

"Dipper, we are not leaving until I find out what's going on here!" Mr. Pines shouted.

"They are after Joshua!" Mabel shouted. "I dunno what they want with him but they are after him!"

"What are you talking about?!" Mr. Pines asked, clearly not buying his daughter claims.

While Dipper and Mabel were trying to convince their father what was going on, Mrs. Pines looked at the trench coat figures and instantly got a gut wrenching feeling. Not seeing their faces is one thing, but upon catching a glimpse of the female ringleader's taser send a bunch of red flags to Mrs. Pines subconscious. It became very clear that these people wanted something and they would have no qualms using everything up their sleeves to accomplish what they came for, violence being included in them. In that instant, Mrs. Pines believed her children words and now sees the figures as people with ill will.

Now going into protective mode and her maternal instincts kicking in, Mrs. Pines begin to look at her surroundings while forming a plan to get out of the situation. Luckily, a rare chance of coincidence in a form a black and golden striped limousine driving through the area and upon seeing the name who owned it gave her the perfect idea.

With no time to waste Mrs. Pines begin to act. "Hey look everyone! There's Kim Kardashian's limo driving by!"

Most of the people, especially the guys, stopped eating or talking and look out the window. The moment that they caught the glimpse of the limousine, the people went crazy that a huge celebrity was near distance from them and wanting to see Kim Kardashian in person or at the very least, see her face. Everyone got up from their seat and hastily stormed towards the front doors, resulting in the a huge crowd colliding with the trench coat figures.

"Ahhhh! What the hell?!" The second female shrieked in panic.

"Get off of me!" The first male figure demanded one of the few people that was carrying him.

"Ugh! Damn it! We're stuck!" The second female figure complained.

"No! We were so close!" The female ringleader shouted in frustration as she too is carried away by the immense crowd.

By the time the crowd was outside and chasing the limousine the restaurant is mostly barren aside a handful of people on the second floor with staff being bewildered on what just happen and the restaurant being almost empty. Dipper, Mabel and Mr. Pines were left shocked and confused, Joshua looked up to Mrs. Pines with shock but admiration while Mrs. Pines herself smirked proudly.

"Yes, thank god that plan actually worked!" Mrs. Pines boasted in victorious.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?" Mr. Pines slowly asked, more like ordered as he could barely contain his anger.

"We'll talk later but right now we have more bigger problems to deal with." Mrs. Pines pointed out as she turn her attention to Joshua. "Do you have anything to do with those strangers that came after you?"

Joshua let out a sigh as he nodded. "But let's not talk here."

"Good idea," Mrs. Pines agreed. "Come on everyone, let's get going."

The Pine twins didn't questioned nor objected their mother and followed her out of Chili's, while Mr. Pines wanted to objected, before ultimately dropping what he had on his mind and followed his family out the restaurant, leaving only Chili's employees with confused look on their faces.

"What just happen?" One of the waitress asked.

"Wait did that woman said that Kim Kardashian just past us?!" One male waiter asked before cursing. "Damn it! I should have join with the crowd!"

* * *

"WHAT?!" Mr. Pines shouted.

"Will you stop yelling, dear?" Mrs. Pines asked as she glared at her husband.

Mr. Pines rolled his eyes in response, as he sat down on his comfort chair. Everyone were currently in the living room, sitting down with tension filling the room. Joshua, Dipper and Mabel just finished telling their story about the four trench coat figures and how they came about. All three of them were nervous, as they told their story to Mr. and Pines due to how they would react from hearing this. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Pines was not pleased by this but surprisingly, but Mrs. Pines didn't react negativity at all, but was slightly disappointed look but remained calm for the most part.

"I'm so sorry that this happened," Joshua apologize.

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Mr. Pines yelled, clearly infuriated. "Because of you, my children are now in danger!"

"It wasn't his fault Dad!" Mabel pleaded, only to be shot down by her father.

"Shut up, Mabel!" Mr. Pines ordered, causing his daughter to jump back a bit.

"Dad, that's going too far!" Dipper defended his sister, who was close to tears.

Mr. Pines was about to snap at his son, before Mrs. Pines cut in.

"Honey! That's far enough! It's not Joshua's fault that this happen!" Mrs. Pines defended.

"If it's not his fault, then do you have an idea on how we're gonna solve this little problem of yours?" Mr. Pines challenged.

Mrs. Pines looked away for a few moments to think. There's no denying the situation that everyone is in right now and the trench coat figures and given what the trio had informed her the figures would likely keep looking every corner and cranny of the whole city to look for Joshua since he is their main objective and they would use any tactic to get their mission done and wouldn't shy away using force at anything or anyone that come across in their path. Faced with such people who are violent as much they are ambiguous Mrs. Pines came up with only one solution despite knowing that her husband wouldn't like her suggestion.

Letting out a sigh Mrs. Pines faced towards her family with a serious but determined look. "We can take the children to Gravity Falls. That would be the perfect place to hide out there."

"WHAT?!" All four of them yelled in unison and in shock before Mr. Pines spoke out against his wife's decision.

"Absolutely not! They would miss out school and everything!"

"I can make the school gives me their homework and send it to them out to Gravity Falls." Mrs. Pines said.

"What about classwork?" Mr. Pines point out. "Won't they be confused and lost without classroom notes?"

"Dear, we live in an age where technology has come along way. The teachers can easily email their classwork or have them all them all inside a flash drive," Mrs. Pines stated factually.

"Mom has a good point there, dad." Mabel point out while Dipper nodded in agreement.

"You're not helping, Mabel!" Mr. Pines scowled his daughter only to be smacked in the back of the head by his wife.

"Enough, the kids are going to Gravity Falls and that's that." Mrs. Pines decided with sternness filling her voice.

Mr. Pines glared at his wife, who had a very determined look on her face, standing on her decision to the very end and wasn't going to let anything or anyone change or swayed her choice. Mr. Pines looked at the kids to see how they are taking such news of going to Gravity Falls; Mabel had a surprise but overall happy expression as going to Gravity Falls meant that it would allow to see her friends and her favorite Grunkle Stan again. Dipper's face overall mixed with anger and worry about missing school but a part of him was excited of meeting his great uncle Ford and go with him on new adventures to discover new creatures. As for Joshua, he was just bewildered and shock that he wasn't grilled enough as expected and being kicked out of their home but he was overall very unsure how all of this would take him to.

After a while of thinking, Mr. Pines gave in seeing that he doesn't have much options. "Fine, we'll send them to Gravity Falls then."

Mabel let out a youthful cheer while Dipper and Mrs. Pines smiled and Joshua stood there with a dumbfounded expression, as Mr. Pines shook his head he faced the children.

"You three, go to your rooms and begin to pack immediately." Mr. Pines ordered.

The trio nodded and each of them head towards upstairs to start packing.

* * *

After thirty minutes have passed, everyone met back in the living room, with Dipper and Mabel having their suitcase and backpacks in their hands, ready to go.

"Okay, looks like everyone is here," Mr. Pines spoke, as he sighed that this was happening.

"Wait, where's Joshua?" Mrs. Pines asked as he noticed Joshua is absent.

"Most likely still packing, I'll go get him," Mabel replied and left her luggage, walking upstairs to the guest room. Upon reaching the guest room, Mabel knocked on the door.

"Joshua, it's Mabel. Are you ready to go?" Mabel asked, but no reply from him.

Just then she noticed the door being slightly open and with curiosity got the better of her she opened the door expected to see Joshua sitting on his bed with his luggage ready, but instead found an completely empty room with the windows half way open.

"Joshua!" Mabel barged into room and look around until noticing a note laying on the bed. She picked up the note and slowly reads it:

 _"Dear the Pines Family,_

 _I'm so sorry that my situation ended up escalated to a life threatening one that resulted endangered you all. You didn't deserved it; None of you deserved it… Now that the worst case scenario have become a reality, I have decided that I would take my leave and it is your best interest that you don't bother to find me. Thank you taking care of me up until then and I wish nothing but the best of you all."_

 _Thank you for everything,_

 _Sincerely, Joshua._

Upon reading the last bit of the letter, Mabel bolted out of the room and ran downstairs to inform her parents and her brother.

"Mom, Dad, Dipper! Joshua is gone!" Mabel shouted in panic.

Mrs. Pines eye widened. "W-what?!"

Mabel nodded. "He left a note!" She handed the note to her mother.

Mrs. Pines grabbed the note and starts reading it. After a few moments Mrs. Pines finished reading the letter and quickly got her keys and brown fur coat and made her way to the car in the garage.

"Honey, where are you going?!" Mr. Pines asked.

"Finding Joshua, he can't survive out being on the streets!" Mrs. Pines answered as she opened the garage door and started her car up."

"Let us go with you!" Dipper suggested only to be turn down by his mother.

"No, your father will take you two at the bus station. I'll be right back." Mrs. Pines replied. Both twins nodded as they watched their mother drive away.

"Come on, you two, get in the car." Mr. Pines somberly order the twins.

The twins complied to their father's demands and went back inside to gather their luggage, load them into the vehicle and got inside with their seat belts on. With everyone ready, Mr. Pines closed the garage door and drove away heading towards the bus station. As they head towards their destination Mabel gazed out the car window.

"I hope Joshua is okay…" Mabel muttered under her breath. She then felt Dipper's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Joshua would come through in the end." Dipper whispered as he comforted his sister.

Mabel faced her brother and smiled. "Your right Dipper, thanks."

"Welcome Mabel." Dipper reassured his sister before gazing outside the car window looking at the passing traffic.

"I hope your okay Joshua," Dipper muttered.

* * *

In the outskirts of Piedmont, Joshua was walking among the small crowd, wanting to avoid being spotted by the Pines family, as well as keeping the trench coat figures in mind, no doubt that they would double their efforts to find him after failing their attempts to capture him twice.

Before long, he arrived at a nearby gas station and decided to stop there, seeing that there was a small McDonald's inside the gas station and he was starting to feel very thirsty again. Taking into account and it was very cloudy and looked like it was going to rain any second now the blonde teenager entered inside and made his way to the small fast food restaurant to find a seat to rest. After he set his luggage down he went up the counter and ordered a large drink and a caramel sundae since he had a sweet cravings he couldn't suppressed anymore. He paid the amount he needed to pay and went back to his seat to relax and think on what his next move.

First and foremost was that Joshua needed to find a nearby bus or train station that would take him out of the city, so he can disappear in the shadows. From there he'll call the RFPP and have them pick them up and take him to safety. Despite having a fairly solid plan, Joshua sighed sadly, as he knew that he would have to tell the agents that he was being in danger from only a mere week staying in the Pines residence, much to his dismay and embarrassment.

As he ate his sundae, the Pines family cross his mind; Mabel's optimistic and bubbly attitude, while did made him a bit uncomfortable, treated him with kindness, always being friendly and checking up on his well being making sure he was included in her and her brother's activities. His interaction Dipper had an awkward start at first, but their interests in books finally strike a bond between them and over the past week, he and Dipper would talk almost day and night of what kind of books they like to read and give out recommendations of different books series to check out. Mrs. Pines was arguably the best caretaker he ever had, always nurturing and accepting she made Joshua feel welcomed with open arms and made his stay feel like being at home, an ideal home feeling that Joshua never felt in a long time. Mr. Pines, despite not being on good terms to begin with, never held anything against him and wish him the best, now that Joshua himself is no longer staying with them and most likely think that with himself gone he'll be relieved and can finally have peace and quiet from the drama.

After finishing resting and enjoying his little dessert and beverage, Joshua gathered his luggage and head out before stopping in his tracks. He realized that he's still relatively new here and doesn't know where the nearest train or bus station was; luckily, his cellphone was an LG G4 that had a built-in map that provided and detected the surroundings roads and freeways every time he went, either another state or international and his map on his phone would always update and change to his current location.

Pressing the Google app, he studied the map layout and it gave him some nice information and even locate the nearest train and bus station. Unfortunately, despite getting the info he needs, Joshua was in for a rude awakening; The nearest train stop was located all the way back in the city and it was located several feet away from where the mall and restaurants were. Worse, the path that the map was informing he should take to get there is the path he just took walking a half hour to get to this gas station. So long story short that his he have to backtrack where we came from much to the blonde hair teenager's dismay.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Joshua shouted in frustration, causing the cashier in the gas station to look at him.

* * *

After having to backtrack for another half hour to get to his destination Joshua finally arrived back at the area where the Pines Residence is. As much as he wanted to go back there, he pressed on as he recalled the possibility of them still looking for him. Plus, now that he's going back to where the trench coats figures last seen he will need to be careful and look over his shoulder. It wouldn't be easy since Joshua could feel his feet being sore from all that walking but he has to leave, for the Pines family to be safe again.

After walking for about another twenty minutes, Joshua arrived at the park. According to the Google map on his cellphone, he is only ten minutes away from from arrived his destination. Letting out a sigh of relief Joshua decided to take a small rest from all the walking he had to endure. He quickly spotted a nearby bench walked towards and sat down. As he relax his body on the bench he looked at the night sky; it was very clear barely any clouds spotting in the horizon and the stars were shining brightly giving it an overall beautiful sight for all to see.

"Man the sky is so beautiful it almost makes me forget all the stress I have inside myself," Joshua spoke with much softness in his tone. "I could stare at the night sky for the whole evening if I could."

"Then you should come with us if you want to have more peace and quiet." A familiar voice whispered in his ear causing Joshua to jump upward in shock and fell face first on the concrete sidewalk.

"OW!" Joshua groaned in pain from hitting his face on the ground before turning his head and faced his now former albeit short time caretaker. "Sigh, really Mrs. Pines? You had to creep up on me like that?"

A chuckling Mrs. Pines helped up Joshua. "Joshua, you didn't have to run off like that."

Joshua looked away as guilt began eating up. "I'm sorry Mrs. Pines, it's just I didn't want my presence to put your whole family in jeopardy as it already has."

"Joshua," Mrs. Pines started as she and Joshua sat down on the bench. "You're not the one who's at fault here; it's those strangers who's after you."

"I know, but still I should leave and find another place to stay." Joshua sulked. "All I need to do is call those agents again and they will take me to a another place far away and that should stop them."

Mrs. Pines nodded. "That's one way to solve your problem, but what if the trench coat figures becomes infuriated upon discovering that your gone? Based on what you have told me about the strangers thus far I could picture them getting frustrated and like any other person or animal who is filled with anger, they would become irrational likely would integrate all of us and even if any of us would be overall telling the truth they would mostly not believe us and worse case scenario, hurt or even kill us."

Joshua stared at his former caretaker. Despite his good intentions on leaving the Pines family, he never crossed the possibility of the strangers coming to the Pines residence and raided it. Given their motives in trying to capture him, Joshua slowly began to visualize and picture the trench cost figures bombarded Mr and Mrs. Pines with questions while Mabel and Dipper cowered in fear being held hostage. Knowing the ringleader has a taser and all made the blonde teenager theorized that the figures have other, far more lethal weapons up their disposal. Just getting the news of the Pines family getting hurt or even killed he would be devastated and wouldn't live with himself.

So after a long sigh and some thinking Joshua made his decision. "Okay, I'll go to Gravity Falls with Mabel and Dipper."

"Thank you!" Mrs. Pines smiled and embraced Joshua with a hug before getting up from her seat. "Come on, let's go Joshua. The twins are already at the bus station waiting."

"Okay." Joshua nodded, got up from his seat and followed his former caretaker with his luggage to the car.

After loading up the luggage Joshua entered the vehicle and Mrs. Pines drove away. As she drove towards the bus station Joshua began thinking on what's gonna happen now and still wonder if it was a good idea to still go with them.

 _'It doesn't matter now. I'm with Mrs. Pines now so there's no going back from this.'_

* * *

After twenty minutes of driving Mrs. Pines and Joshua arrived at the bus station where they met Mr. Pines and the twins whom were sitting inside waiting for the bus.

"We're here!" Mrs. Pines announced as both she and Joshua entered the inside the building.

"Mom!" Both twins shouted as they ran and hugged their mom, before facing Joshua who had a somber and guilt look.

"Hey Joshua, glad you decided to join us," Mabel cheered her friend up as best she could.

"I'm sorry that I ran away like that." Joshua apologized. Dipper placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it Joshua, we understand." Dipper reassure his new friend.

Joshua blinked before shaking his head clearly taken back from the twins understanding. "Thanks."

The trio then hear Mr. Pines clearing his throat, obviously trying to get his attention. The three teenagers turned around and faced him.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Pines," Joshua apologized. "For everything."

Mr. Pines looked at Joshua for a moment before shaking his head. "It's fine. Look, let's just try to put this whole incident aside and move on okay?"

Joshua didn't say anything and just nodded his head.

For the past half hour Joshua and the Pines family waited for the bus to be ready as the driver is taking a long break and rightfully so; the drive from Piedmont California to Gravity Falls Oregon by vehicle is roughly ten hours and thirty six minutes if Joshua didn't count rests or pit stops, but since most if not all bus traveling from state to state for hours on end would most likely stop for fuel and for the passengers to use the bathroom and what not, he estimated the time would be between ten to twelve hours at most to be at Gravity Falls.

Finally, the clerk from behind the desk turned on mic. "Bus four hundred and five bus four hundred and five, going from Piedmont California to Gravity Falls Oregon is ready to depart."

"Alright, that's us." Mrs. Pines spoke as she got up from her seat. "Come on let's go."

Mr. Pines along with Mabel, Dipper and Joshua got up from their seat and walked towards the bus each with their bags and luggage in hand. Upon arriving at their destined bus Mr and Mrs. Pines begin hugging the twins and saying their goodbyes.

"Bye Mabel, Bye Dipper," Mrs. Pines said as she began to tear up. "I'll miss you two."

"We'll miss you too, mom." Mabel replied.

"Now you two be careful, okay?" Mr. Pines asked in a slight worry tone.

"We will dad. Don't worry." Dipper reassured his father.

Joshua was sitting on on top of his suitcase watching the Pines family exchanging goodbyes and what not leaving him out in the cold. He isn't surprised by this at all as he still felt that it was Joshua himself is the cause of them leaving in the first place, plus he didn't felt the mood to interact with either Mr and Mrs. Pines out of guilt and shame.

"Joshua," Mrs. Pines called the blonde teenager as she walked towards him. "I wanted to say goodbye to you. Why are you down sweetie?"

"It's because I'm still feeling guilty about all of this." Joshua answered honestly.

Mrs. Pines hugged Joshua, much to his surprise. "Don't be, try letting go all of that negative feelings about yourself and try to be positive!"

"No offense Mrs. Pines, but how can I be positive about this?" Joshua objected.

"Well," Mrs. Pines began. "First off, you are going to Gravity Falls Oregon and from the twins perspective, it's a rather fun place, despite being a small and sleepy town and Mabel and Dipper have many friends living there, along with their great uncle. You would absolutely love it there!"

Joshua looked at his former caretaker. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, Stan doesn't mind another person to live under his roof." Mrs. Pines said in a confident tone.

"Well okay, I hope I can get along with their great uncle." Joshua hoped.

"I'm sure you'll get along just fine!" Mrs. Pines cooed.

Just then Joshua saw Mr. Pines heading towards him and he and Mrs. Pines of them disengaged from their hug.

"Yes, Mr. Pines?" Joshua spoke. "Is there something you wanted to say to me?" The blonde teenager expected another scowl from the father but instead he saw Mr. Pines shook his head and sigh.

"Yeah, just for your sake, my sake and everyone's wellbeing, please try not to cause much of a headache while you're at Gravity Falls…" Mr. Pines stressed.

Joshua quickly nodded before Mr. Pines continued on.

"I really mean it cause the LAST thing I want here great uncle Stan is that you causing much trouble and he just don't want you in his house anymore. If that happens then you will outta luck cause we can't get you given those strangers are still after you and likely after us so it wouldn't make sense to come get you and please just listen what great uncle Stan wants you to do and you'll be fine." Mr Pines stressed on the last part of his words, almost sounding he's pleading with Joshua.

"Seriously dad?" An irritated Dipper spoke at his dad.

"Come on dad!" Mabel complained. "Joshua wouldn't do that!"

"And dear, why are you addressing to Joshua like your still mad at him? We've been over this that Joshua isn't the one at fault here." Mrs. Pines joined in on the argument.

Mr. Pines realized that his entire family is against him and felt overwhelmed, seeing this made Joshua intervene on his behalf.

"Everyone, it's fine." Joshua managed to calm Mrs. Pines and the twins down much to the surprise of Mr. Pines. Afterwards the blonde teenager turned and faced Mr. Pines. "Don't worry Mr. Pines, I have no intentions of screwing things up at Gravity Falls."

Mr. Pines looked at Joshua and blinked for a bit taken back by Joshua's obedience. "Well okay, glad we can come with an agreement."

After Mrs. Pines and the twins glared at Mr. Pines for a moment or so Dipper, Mabel and Joshua got on the bus and set their luggage under their seats. The bus driver started the engine ready to take off.

"Bye mom and dad!" Both twins shouted as they waved at their parents as the bus took off on the open and begin heading towards their destination.

Mabel and Dipper sat onto their seats and relax as they look on at the night sky. Joshua, who was sitting across the twins was staring at his phone catering to himself. Noticing this, both twins went up to the blonde haired teenager.

"Hey Joshua!" Mabel spoke in her usual loud optimistic tone. "Are you excited going to Gravity Falls?"

"Okay, why would I be excited?" Joshua asked. "What good is there in such a small town like Gravity Falls?"

"Well…" Dipper started as he leaned closer towards his friend. "Believe it or not Gravity Falls is a place filled with strange creatures?"

Joshua raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Is that so? Like what?"

"There are so many that it's a bit overwhelming to name them all," Dipper bashfully scratched the back of his head. Mabel nodded her head.

"Yeah and plus, I want you be surprised of how awesome Gravity Falls truly can despite being a small town," Mabel stated.

"Well okay, I guess I am a bit excited now." Joshua admitted. "But seriously, I'm very sorry about me running and… well.. All of this have to happen really."

"Joshua, it's nothing to fuss over." Mabel smiled. "It's gonna be okay."

"You're sure?" Joshua asked as he stared at Mabel with uncertainty only to be playfully punched on his right shoulder by the brunette.

"Of course! We have tons of friends at Gravity Falls! I know you'll get along with almost everyone!"

Joshua slightly chuckled at his friend's enthusiasm and formed a small smile. After being too hard on himself all night long he finally eased himself and relaxed. Joshua glanced at his phone to see what time is was and to his surprise it is almost midnight. With each of the teenagers starting to feel sleepy the trio decided to go to bed with the twins falling asleep first in their wrong seats. Thankfully however, they were the only people on board so Mabel, Dipper and Joshua had the entire bus to themselves.

Joshua read an article on his phone before looking at the Pine twins who were sleeping together in each other arms and back to his phone before deciding to call it a night and put his phone into sleep mode. As he laid back and rested his head he glanced out the window and looked at the seamlessly clear night sky. It has been a long day and as much he want to go to sleep he's currently too preoccupied to rest as he begins to think what awaits him at Gravity Falls; the atmosphere, the residents and how he would fare well into another location that he completely new to him. Regardless of what he felt about the situation Joshua conclude that he will have to wait and see when he get's there as he no longer had the energy to keep his eyes open let alone think.

Letting out a long yawn Joshua laid his head on the window and fell asleep with the bus drove onward through the now large fields surrounding the long road ahead.

* * *

"ARGH! I can't believe we failed to capture him!" The ringleader groaned in frustration. "Twice!"

"Ahh! My beautiful face!" The second female figure moped as she touched her face which it had numerous shoe prints all over her face.

"OW… that was not pleasant at all…." The first male figure complained as he cater to his right arm which it was badly wounded.

"Ugh, looks like we have to go back to the drawing board," The second male figured sighed as he is sitting down on a nearby bench.

The trench coat figures were currently at sitting outside the mall in the shopping center where it is empty since it is closing hours after all.

"Come on, guys," The female ringleader sighed in defeat. "Let's head back and get some sleep."

Having little choice by now and completely exhausted from the tumultuous day they had the ringleader's henchman painfully got from their seat and followed their leader through town.

"We're gonna have to think of another plan., The second male figured spoke. "Cause from the looks of it earlier when we were at Chili's it appears to be the family that our target was staying and knowing them they would have already relocated him to another place far away from here."

"Your right," The female ringleader nodded. "As much I don't like to admit it as it would cause us to go back to square one in our search for him but that's a very likely result given what has transpired."

"What would we do?!" The first male figure asked clearly panicking.

"We're going to have to get some extra help." The female ringleader admitted.

The second male figure turn a bit pale. "Wait, you don't mean…"

"Yeah," The ringleader nodded her head. "We're going to have to call our master."

"Oh I was hoping we could have avoid this," The first male figure complained. "When our master hears how we failed to capture our target."

"Don't worry about it until that time comes," The female ringleader said sounding very irritated. "Right now let's just get back to the hotel and get some sleep."

"Agreed!" The female ringleader shouted followed by the two male figures nodded.

The group of figures disappeared into the night as a bright shooting star swiftly passed over Piedmont California.

 **And it's officially the last chapter would take place at the twins residence as the from here on out it's back at good old Gravity Falls!**

 **Again very sorry for the long wait, life kinda got at me. Working two jobs isn't an easy feat in fact it gotten so bad that it resulting me working six days a week with barely any time for write let alone want time for myself doing other things. I ended being burned out by the work overload and I got the flu so that ended up writing near impossible.**

 **But I'm back and I'm planning on forming a schedule so that can lessen the stress I have. But anyway, thank you for your understanding and I hope I can get done with future chapter a lot quicker this time around.**

 **Until next time! Ciao!**


	4. Chapter 4 Part I

**Hey I'm back with another chapter! Enjoy!**

 _-Gravity Falls Oregon, 2:42 p.m._

"Okay are you guys ready to go for a swim?"

"Are you sure this is safe to swim in this river?"

"Who cares! It beats going to the local pool area."

"No kidding, there are so many people that the lifeguard put a waiting period between the amount of people allowed to come in. And since I'm not going to wait another hour or so to get in swimming in the lake is the better option in my opinion!"

"Aren't lakes rather known for having murky water that is contaminated with all sorts of parasites?"

"Where do you hear that from?"

"From the internet and even from certain doctors, nurses and the news!"

"Pfft you're just trying to scare us."

"Ugh! You know what? Fine, go swimming if you want! See if i care! But don't come crying to me if any of you get's sick."

"Whatever!"

Deep within the Gravity Falls forest were four teenagers, three of them were boys, while the last teenager was a girl, as they were currently walking along a small water trail, hopeful it would lead them to a nearby lake. It was very hot outside, with the sun beaming down and the skies clear and blue, with barely any clouds in it's vicinity. Because the city pool was overrun with dozens of people wanting to cool and fight the unbearable heat, the four teenagers decided to ditched the idea and find an alternative of going swimming; after what felt like a very long trek, they found it in a form of a lake located in this forest. Despite being inside a forest and the fear of parasites within lakes, this lake was surprisingly clean and clear, so much so, that several native animals were drinking from the lake. A significant amount of sun rays pierced through the trees and hit the water, giving it a beautiful reflection that further add the pleasant scenery of the lake.

All the teenagers were in awe at the sight.

"Wow…" A teenage boy, with blue eyes and short long blonde hair spoke.

"This is breathtaking," The second teenage boy, who had black afro hair and brown eyes stared in amazement.

"This. Is. Perfect!" The third and last teenage boy in the group, who had spiky red hair and black eyes shouted as he took off his clothes and charged towards the lake with his blue swimming trunks.

The two boys followed suit and charged towards the lake as well leaving the teenage girl alone.

"Ugh, despite the breathtaking scene and clear water I'm not going swimming." The teenage girl, who possess midnight black hair and chocolate brown eyes walked towards a nearby tree and sat there resting on it as she watched the boys splashing and wrestling in the water.

But unbeknownst to the teenagers, something was lurking within the depth of the peaceful lake. Something that would prove that ancient long myths do exist in the world, as a set of green eyes merged from the water.

"Kukukukuku…"

* * *

Elsewhere in Gravity, Falls Oregon laid a large gift shop called the Mystery Shack, that was fairly crowded with a number of customers, with the majority of them being tourists, while local residents would occasionally drop by every once in a while.

Grunkle Stan, who happened to be the owner of the Mystery Shack, was up on his feet, is walking around making sure the place is spiffy clean. Age apparently hasn't slow him down one bit and still up to his no good tricks, conning unfortunate people out of their money. His workers consisted of two people: Wendy and Soos.

Soos was currently giving the tour around to a group of customers. While still chubby and and all he has lost a bit of weight and have a lot more energy compare to him a few years ago, especially since Stan let him take over running the shop with Soos even sporting his usual outfit. As for Wendy, she still had her laid back personality, but her appearance had changed significantly; her ginger hair have grew even longer and her freckles darkened a bit into beauty marks making her more attractive compare to her four years ago, causing Dipper to drool over her from afar, who was currently standing behind the cashier along with his sister Mabel helping out the customers.

"Wow, the Mystery Shack has gotten popular over the years., Dipper spoke, watching countless of people looking around.

"Of course, Dipper!" Mabel boasted confidently. "Speaking of which, have you seen Joshua?"

Dipper scratched his chin. "Come to think of it, I overheard Stan wanted him to go run an errand for him."

"I hope Grunkle Stan isn't pushing him too hard," Mabel begin to worry.

Dipper waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry. I'm sure he wouldn't make Joshua do anything life threatening. Well, _almost_ like threatening."

* * *

"All right kid, I want you to go to the store and get some more cleaning materials," Stan ordered.

"That's fine and all, but I don't even know where the store is!" Joshua argued. "I'm new here, remember?"

Stan glared at his new employee before shooking his head in frustration. "Ugh, fine kid! Wendy!"

The red haired young adult popped her head from the window was between Joshua and Stan startling the two. "Yo."

"Ack!" Stan jumped back in surprise. "Wendy, can you show this brat where the store is?"

"Excuse me?" Joshua glared at his new boss with irritability.

"Sure Stan," Wendy instantly jumped through the window and landed on her feet ready to go. "Come on kid, follow me."

Joshua continued to glared at Stan before rolling his eyes and followed Wendy.

"Don't take too long either!" Stan yelled from the distance.

"We won't, Stan!" Wendy waved before turning around and forming a smirk. "Yeah right. We are going to take our sweet time." Wendy faced Joshua. "Isn't that right, dude?"

Joshua didn't respond right away as he was too infuriating from his boss insulting him like that. Wendy noticed it and patted on his shoulder. "Come on you have to let that go dude."

Joshua let out a long sigh before facing Wendy. "Fine."

Wendy smiled brightly. "That's the spirit! Come on, I'll give you the tour of the town."

"I would like that," Joshua nodded, feeling a bit relief that his new fellow co-employee would give him the tour around Gravity Falls, the town that the Pines Twins mentioned so much about when they were back in California. It would also get away from his new boss Stan, who have been treating him rather poorly since he arrived. Wendy and Soos were unaware why he's getting the second class treatment from him, Joshua and the Pine Twins themselves knew the real reasons, one they kept to themselves.

"Awesome, stick by me dude and you won't get lost." Wendy instructed.

Joshua only rolled his eyes. "Ha ha."

For the next half hour, Wendy and Joshua walked around Gravity Falls, with the red haired teenager showing the blonde haired teenager around. For a small town like Gravity Falls, it has shown to be quite lively and crowded, with people with so much energy, it made Joshua forget the impression of all small towns tend to be rather sleepy, with little to know residence in sight.

"For such a small town, it sure it's lively around here," a shocked Joshua commented.

"Yeah, it has been this since a few years ago when we saved this town," Wendy said.

Joshua gave Wendy a look. "Wait, saved this town? Did I hear that right?"

"Yes, everyone here banded together and stopped Bill," Wendy answered before raising her eyebrow. "Wait, don't tell me that Dipper and Mabel didn't tell you this?"

"No, neither of them even mentioned it," Joshua frowned.

"Oh well, I'm sure they will tell you later," Wendy insisted.

"…Yeah" Joshua only sighed as he looked down.

Wendy and Joshua entered the store and quickly got what they needed and exited the store with their stuff in a blue plastic bag. As they left, they saw four teenagers running towards them, each of them drench with sweats from head to toe and with fear and panic on their faces, as if they saw something so traumatic. So traumatic, that all four the them charged towards Wendy and Joshua, causing all six of them to get knocked down on the ground.

"AHHH!" Wendy gasped in surprise.

"Hey, watch where you are going!" Joshua scowled the teenagers.

The three boys groaned in pain, while trying to get while the sole girl teenager quickly got up and shook her head.

"I'm sorry!" The girl teenager apologize hastily as if she's in a hurry. "But we saw something hideous and it attacked us out of nowhere!"

"Really?" Wendy gasped in shock, before she got serious. "What does it look like?"

"It look like some kind of humanoid frog!" The first boy teenager spoke.

"It wasn't a frog!" The second boy argued. "As far I know, frogs don't have a bald spot on their heads!"

"It had green reptilian skin!" The third teenage boy points out. "If it wasn't a frog, then what else can it be?!"

"Okay, everyone!" Wendy yelled trying to calm down the teenagers. "Just calm down and start from the beginning."

All four teenagers stopped fighting amongst themselves and explained to Wendy what happened, giving more description of what attacked them, doing their best to described it with whatever details they can recall. Wendy, despite seeing her own shares of different creatures, can't make out on what this new creature was. Joshua however, had begun theorizing on what the creature was, based on their descriptions.

 _"Hmm…a humanoid in form that is roughly around the size as a eight year old child, has green reptilian skin, a beak, a shell and a bald spot where there is a plate resting on top them…wait a minute…the description of the creature that attacked the teenagers awfully sound familiar."_

Before the blonde teenager could make out more of the creature he was thinking, Joshua's train of thoughts were swiftly interrupted by Wendy shaking his shoulder.

"Joshua? Dude?" Wendy spoke up.

It didn't took long for Joshua to respond. "Oh, hey Wendy. What's up?"

"Um, are you okay? You kinda spaced out for a moment there."

Joshua shook his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" Wendy asked.

"The creature that attacked them. I was trying to think on what could it be and it sound like I may know," Joshua replied.

"You do?!" Wendy was surprised by Joshua's quick thinking. "Do know what creature it is?"

"I… can't say," Joshua shot down. "It sounded very familiar, but I'm not so sure yet, since there are other creatures that shares similar traits but be different creatures altogether, so unless I know more I don't have a clear answer."

"Oh, alright then," Wendy was disappointed by Joshua's answer. "Anyway, let's head back to the Mystery Shack. Stan and the others are waiting for us."

"Right," Joshua agreed, before turning to the four teenagers who are now on their feet, still shaken on what happened to them. "Anyway, thanks for your time, guys."

The four teenagers waved at Wendy and Joshua, before resuming their way. As the two walked towards their destination Wendy decided to resume talking to Joshua.

"So…" Wendy started. "Joshua, it sounded like you had a clue of what creature attacked those teenagers. Are you into stuff that Dipper liked?"

"Which is?" Joshua asked raising an eyebrow as he no idea what Dipper like despite becoming his friend as of recent.

Wendy playfully punched Joshua's shoulder. "Dude, come on! Supernatural stuff! Paranormal activity stuff!"

"Wait, Dipper is into those kind of stuff?" Joshua asked.

"Oh yeah, man. Dipper is a geek for that kind of stuff!" Wendy laughed. "Trust me you have to see whenever Dipper go crazy."

"I'll keep that in mind, Wendy," Joshua nodded his head as he chuckled, very amused to see Dipper go bonkers.

Wendy and Joshua made it back to Mystery Shack and resume their work for the rest of the day. Business went by fairly normal and without any hiccups, much to the relief of Stan. The day went on by fast and around seven in the evening, the gang decided to close up and call it a day. Wendy and Soos left the shack and went to their respective homes, leaving only Stan, Joshua and the twins alone. When they heard their stomachs growling, they knew that it was time for dinner.

Stan cooked the kids dinner, consisting of pork chops, mash potatoes and peas. While the twins enjoyed their food, Joshua however ended up not liking it; he ate he saw a few strands of hair inside his food, much to the blonde teenager's utter disgust, to the point that he almost threw up. In the end, though, Joshua decided not to continue eating and put his food in the garbage disposal, having lost his appetite from having something so gross like hair in his food, but waited for everyone to be gone, as he didn't want to hurt the twin's feelings, nor doesn't he want to hear Stan going into a rant on why he didn't finished the food that he provided him, since Joshua could tell that his boss was the type of person to freak out over the simplest of things.

Joshua made his way to his room on where he is staying in and upon entering the room, he was greeted by the twins, both already in their sleepwear.

"Hey Joshua…" Dipper was the first one to greet. He wore his usual black shorts and orange t shirt. "How was your first day working here in the Mystery Shack?"

"Passable, for lack of a better word," Joshua answered as he went to his bed and got out his pajamas. "What are you two doing here?"

"We just wanted to drop by and see how you're doing that's all," Mabel answered. She wore her usual purple nightdress. "Oh and watch out for that aqua blue rug next to you."

"Why?" Joshua then made an annoyed look. "Don't tell me that there are dust bunnies or god forbid lice living in that rug!"

The twins looked at each other before facing Joshua.

"No dude, nothing like that," Dipper pointed out.

"Just.. bad things happen if you try walking on that rug," Mabel added.

"Like what in particular?" Joshua folded his arms, clearly not buying the twins claims.

"You don't want to know!" Both twins yelled in unison causing the blonde teenager to jump back in slight shock.

"Okay, okay!" Joshua waved his hands finally decided to end the topic there. "I won't walk on the rug. Happy?"

The twins nodded. "Very happy," Mabel said.

"Anyway, we'll be taking our leave right now," Dipper got up on his feet and walked towards the door. "Come on Mabel."

Mabel followed suit and made her way out. "Good night, Joshua."

"Night, guys," Joshua closed the door and quickly changed out of his clothes and into his pajamas which consisted of blue PJ pants and white t-shirt.

He turned off the bedroom light, quickly got into bed and laid down. What a day has been for Joshua, he soon as he arrived here was forcefully thrown into working for Stan that he dreaded to acknowledged as his "boss" and he hated seeing that con artist as his superior, just seeing or even mentioned him in his mind makes him shiver.

Letting out a sigh he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

* * *

In the dead of night, a young woman who appears no more than in her late 30s, was walking towards her car that is parked near a streaming river. When she got in front of the door, she dig into her small purple purse to fish out her keys, but it became apparent that her car keys was hidden under a variety of other things.

"Are you kidding?!" The woman groaned in frustration as she continued to look for her car keys.

Unbeknownst to her, however, there was a creature hidden in the bushes near the streaming river and it was setting its sight on the vulnerable woman.

"Oh…she'll make a perfect bearer for my offspring," The creature formed a lustful smile before disappearing into the darkness before instantly launched itself towards its wanted target; before long the unexpected woman caught a glimpse of the creature before blackened out.

A horrifying and loud scream echoed throughout the night.

 **And now officially Gravity Falls has a mystery on their hands! Sorry for the long wait. Work has gotten to me as usual and due to how long writing this chapter was, my beta reader and I have decided to split chapter 4 into two parts. I didn't like the suggestion at first since I resort to splitting chapters unless the length and pace make sense (like Weirdmageddon length for example) but given how long writing chapter 4 was (roughly about 42 page worth in fact) it's decided that we split chapter 4 into two parts.**

 **But despite this I'm in the works of writing Chapter 5 and hopefully the wait wont be long this time.**

 **Until the next chapter, Ciao!**


	5. Chapter 4 Part II

**And here's part 2 of chapter 4! Enjoy!**

The sun slowly rose up, as morning came to Gravity Falls, its people starting to wake up, while most were still sleeping in on Saturday without a care in the world.

The Mystery Shack building remained quiet until much later, where everyone begin to wake up. Joshua was the last one to wake up given how a bit sore that his body was from work yesterday. Despite waking up a bit cranky, the blonde haired teenager sluggishly made his way downstairs and then to the kitchen where Stan and the twins were at.

"Morning."

"Morning Joshua!" Mabel greeted the blonde teenager.

"About time you woke up, shrimp!" Stan complained as he's currently cooking breakfast. "I didn't pay you to be lazy and to sleep all day!"

"You haven't paid me at all,"a deadpan Joshua stated, as he glared at his hypocritical boss.

"Not with that attitude, your not," Stan warned.

This only caused Joshua grit his teeth in annoyance and open his mouth as if he was ready to respond back, but at the last second, decided to not to say anything and closed his mouth, as he took his seat on the table and took his unjustified defeat in silence. _"Like I need money from an asshole like him."_

The twins stared at their friend, before looking at each other. It was obvious that Joshua was having a rough time liking Stan, which was something that Dipper and Mabel can relate to; it took Dipper a while to finally grow to love Stan for who he was, despite being a con artist and all, though he put up with Stan's questionable antics, now he understand Joshua's frustration though. Dipper hoped things would change between them in the future.

"Anyway, since it's the weekend, I thought it would be a perfect time to go fishing!" Stan announced.

"YAY!" Mabel cheered, while Dipper nodded his head and smiled. Joshua, on the other hand, casually shrugged.

Stan served them pancakes, eggs and bacon. The twins ate their breakfast, while Joshua decided to skip breakfast and just have a glass of orange juice, with Mabel ended up eating Joshua's plate. After everyone ate their breakfast, Stan turned on the TV, to see if anything interesting was on, until he stumbled channel seven where the Gravity Falls news network is broadcasting breaking news.

"Breaking news on channel seven!"

Stan shrugged his shoulder with indifference, as he was about to change the channel. "Don't care."

"An random attack occurred at this very location and the victim happened to be Priscilla Northwest, the family that happened to be descendants of the family who founded this town The Northwests!"

Everyone except Joshua were shocked in hearing such news, as this town has a low crime rate, with Stan even went so far as spitting his coffee and ended up hitting Joshua's face.

 **"WHAT?!"** Mabel gasped.

"Pacifica's mother was a victim of an attack?" Dipper asked. Even though he knows that Priscilla Northwest was a very nasty person, along with her husband Preston Northwest, no one would dare try to attack her as retribution for violence against someone with high status like the Northwests, would be obviously huge as few would have the backbone to attack the founder of Gravity Falls despite he along with Mabel know the truth of them "founding" this small is nothing but a mere hoax.

"Who's the victim of this attack?" Joshua asked as he wiped the coffee of his face with his hands.

"Priscilla Northwest," Mabel answered "She is Pacifica's mother, a good friend of ours."

"Is that so, huh?" Joshua scratched his chin before his eyes widened in realization. "Your friends with the founder of this small town?"

"Yes and no," Dipper replied. "We're good friends with Pacifica Northwest, but the same cannot be said with her parents, as they despise us and practically everyone who isn't rich like them. To answer your other question, no, the Northwests aren't the founders Gravity Falls."

 _"Pacifica Northwest…"_ Joshua nodded his head, while at the same time, retreated in his mind with their friend's name still lingering in his head. Meanwhile the Pines family watched and listened the news closely.

"We're now going live with Trisha who is at the site of the attack. Trisha." The news then switched to the new reporter Trisha, who was standing in front of the attack where it took place.

"Hello everyone, Trisha is here in front of the site, along with two sheriff's Blubbs and Durland," The female news reporter said with the camera shirting to the two sheriffs.

"Now, we're still under investigation, but we do know that Priscilla Northwest suffered horrendous injuries I have ever seen," Sheriff Blubbs took of his hat and sadly looked down as he shook his head.

"Priscilla Northwest was horribly bruised up from head to toe, had a black eye and a broken arm," Sheriff Durland stated grimly. "Whoever did this is someone who's not only deranged but also ridiculously strong. We're gonna do our best to find the perpetrator and served him justice!"

The camera then shift back to Trisha. "And there you have it folks. The police will be on high alert until the person is caught. If you have any information about this case or have seen the perpetrator contact the police immediately. This is Trisha with Gravity Falls news sighing out!"

Stan turned off the TV as the news switched to something else. "Okay kids! It's time for us to get ready to go fishing!"

Dipper, Mabel and Joshua looked at each other before facing Stan and nodded their heads, slowly getting up from their seat, putting their dishes in the sink and went to their respective rooms to get ready for the day. After an half hour have passed everyone meet at the door with Stan has on his fishing attire along with all of his fishing equipment.

"Okay is everyone ready? Stan asked.

"Ready Grunkle Stan!" Mabel replied.

"I'm ready Grunkle Stan," Dipper added.

"Whatever," Joshua muttered.

The gang passed a few cars as they were on their way towards their destination, as Stan was driving in his car, with Mabel calling shotgun and Joshua and Dipper were stuck in the back seat. Since Mabel sat in the front, she got full access to the radio, something that she took full advantage of turning every radio station that was playing her favorite songs, much to dismay of everyone else in the car.

"Ugh! Are you kidding me?" Dipper groaned in displeasure with Joshua nodded in agreement.

"So much on having a relaxing trip."

"Aww, come on!" Mabel cheered. "My taste in music isn't that bad! At least it's not country music!"

Dipper reluctantly shook his head. "There's something I can agree."

Joshua however only frowned and rolled his eyes. "How is that any better?! I would gladly take listening country music than boy band music any day."

Stan continue to drive for a good few minutes until they arrived at the lake. Stan parked the car and got out with the trio carrying all the fishing equipment and when they got to the boat rental they met a familiar face.

"Hey dudes!" Soos greeted much to the surprise of the gang.

"Hey Soos!" Mabel sat down the fishing equipment, ran up to him and embraced him in a hug.

"What are you doing here Soos?" Dipper asked.

"Well Stan informed me about you coming out here to fish so I decided to join your guys!" Soos happily announced. "And we can take this huge boat!"

"Sweet!" Dipper smiled. Mabel cheered as she grabbed the fishing rods, Stan just shook his head in disapproval since he wanted to be family time between him and the twins despite Joshua is preset with them but he did had something planned for the blonde teenager to keep him away from him and the twins. As for Joshua he only shrugged his shoulders as he walked towards the boat they're getting on.

"Well. this might be fun after all," Joshua thought.

Everyone board on the small fishing boat and and drove off from the shores with Soos on the helm driving the ship, Stan settling his chair and equipment up to get ready to fish when Soos finds a decent spot as there were several other boats present, Mabel helping her Grunkle Stan by putting on fishing hooks and handling the bait they'll be using today, Dipper scanning out the lake using his binoculars and finally Joshua standing on front right corner of the ship using his phone.

After a few minutes of scrolling Soos found a good spot and stopped there. The spot they picked is perfect for Stan; there was plenty of space for him to fish and there was a good amount of distance from the other boats and lastly they were under a good amount of shade safe from the hot beaming sun rays.

"Nice job for finding the perfect spot for me to have both worlds, Soos; fishing and relaxing on my chair," Stan praised his employer.

"My pleasure. Stan!" Soos exclaimed.

Joshua, who was watching from afar was dumbstruck by the fact that someone would listen and take order for a sorry excuse of a "boss". He understood that employees must always followed their boss's words regardless, but Joshua expected someone o be this mental to follow Stan and put up with his attitude and pay him or her below minimum wage. All of this would deterred anyone from wanting to work under Stan's thumb but Soos seemed content with it.

As he was so into his thoughts that Joshua didn't noticed Mabel was literally next to him trying to get his attention by poking the right side of his cheek. "Boop! Boop! Boop!"

"AHH!" Joshua jumped in shock before tumbling down on the ground with a loud "THUMP!" This causes Mabel to giggle.

"Are you okay Joshua?" Mabel asked in between her giggles.

"Aside from you making me tumble on the ground like an bashful idiot I'm okay." Joshua sneered at the optimistic brunette.

At first Mabel looked at her friend with concern before smiling at him apparently taking his words without second thoughts. "Good! We're going to fish now. You wanna join?"

"Sorry Mabel, I'm gonna pass on going fishing," Joshua declined.

Mabel frowned. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Mabel," Joshua confirmed. "Don't worry, I'll be here if you need me."

"Well…okay. I'll see you then when we're done." And with that Mabel walked back to her family and Soos to joined them leaving the blonde teenager alone and to himself for the time being.

With this in mind Joshua got his phone and stream the Gravity Falls news since he has nothing better to do and wanted to see what other news post aside from the assault case on Priscilla Northwest that is taking front page and center of the news media in this small town. As he scrolled down a couple of ongoing cases caught his interests, before Joshua clicked one of the two ongoing articles.

The first articles were about animals randomly gone missing and never return, with horses and cows being the most profound victims. Apparently it was happening all over Gravity Falls for quite some time as the article goes on revealing about a variety of farmers complaining about the same problems, in fact so much so that things like meat, chicken, roast and dairy products such as milk, butter, cheese are having trouble meeting demand of such things resulting the prices to inflate in a staggering amount that Joshua can recall yesterday when Wendy was showing him around town.

* * *

 _"No way! A single pack of meat cost ten dollars!" A shocked Joshua yelled._

 _Wendy only shook her head. "It's no surprise dude, we are experiencing a shortage of some kind."_

 _This cause Joshua to look at Wendy. "What kind of shortage?"_

 _"For some reason the stores around here are starting to have low supplies of meat due to farmers not supplying enough," Wendy explained._

 _"That's very bizarre, happening out the blue like that," Joshua muttered._

 _"Maybe because one of the cows are contaminated and they are doing the best to prevent an epidemic?" Wendy suggested._

 _Joshua nodded his head. "That is a possibility, but I'm starting to doubt that considering it if was an epidemic, word would spread all over the town and the media would have a field day. Did you hear anything about this prior before the stores raised the prices?"_

 _"Now that you mentioned it Joshua…" Wendy paused for a bit and think about over the past several months. Despite not being the type who watched the news, she still tried to keep herself informed from time to time and so far, she hasn't seen or hear anything about the unexpected shortage that Gravity Falls was experiencing. "No."_

 _"Is that so huh?" Joshua scratched his chin. "Then something is amiss or foul play is in the works in the shadows."_

 _Wendy didn't hear the last part of Joshua's words. "Did you say something dude?"_

 _Joshua nodded his head. "It's nothing Wendy. Let's just get what we came here and hurry back to the Mystery Shack."_

 _"Of course!" Wendy agreed before letting out a smirk. "But not before finishing showing you around town first."_

 _"Fine by me," Joshua followed Wendy as she resume the tour. "And I do hope that the shortage situation would be solved because if Stan finds out I'm spending his hard earn cash on food that would cost time a fortune whenever he send me to another errand I wouldn't never hear the end of it!"_

 _This caused Wendy to laugh. "I agree with you dude! Stan is very stingy when it comes to money!"_

 _Joshua only rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"_

* * *

Joshua shook his head as he thought about the conversation he and Wendy had between them. "Yeah someone or something is behind it but it's too early to say."

Done reading the first article he clicked and moved on the second and last one, this one caught him by surprise and send shivers down his spine; the second article is missing person, or people report in this unique case as the article reveals that several children went missing and they were last spotted back three month and a half ago and despite an intense investigation and manhunt for these children no progress have been made. At the bottom of the are the picture descriptions of the missing children which Joshua counted four in total; three boys and a girl and the phone number which is obviously to the police.

After finally reading the last article Joshua put his phone away and began brainstorming on everything he has read.

"First the teenagers was attacked by a humanoid creature with green skin, then Priscillia Northwest was attacked, then the shortage of meat and dairy products and finally, the missing children," Joshua talked to himself as revelations caused him to turn pale.

"There's no mistake about it. Whoever is doing this is…" Joshua paused for a bit as he conflict between the connections he's established and self denial. "... but do they seriously exist? And living in this small town of all places?!"

Just then Stan stood up. "Oh, I got myself a bite, kids!"

Dipper Mabel and Soos cheered as they watched Stan reeling on the fish that is struggling to get away and it is giving Stan a run of his money as despite his strength he is still struggling with the fish. As this was happening Joshua watched them from afar with his eyes glued on the fishing hook inside the water and for good reason; he's on red alert mode on what might be on the end of Stan's fishing rod as it very well could be the creature that is the source of this small town problems.

"Alright, now I got him!" Stan boasted as he slowly reeling in his prey. "Heh, this one's a fighter, I'll tell ya."

Hearing those words made Joshua's heart jumped with adrenaline. It was his time to act.

"Stan, ahem don't you think you should free that fish you captured," This caused Stan to questionably look at the blonde teenager.

"Are you mad?! This fish gave me a hell of a run but it's time my catch of the day to call it quits."

"Stan listen, there are other fishes that are a lot larger and stronger than the one you caught, so how about we take our losses and let that fish go?" Joshua desperately insisted.

This in turn only made Stan irritated. "Listen shrimp, I caught this fish fair and square and I'm not gonna let some pretty boy persuade me."

"Pretty boy!" Joshua was starting to become frustrated by Stan's behavior, until let out a sigh in defeat. He tried his best to help Stan but seeing how stubborn his boss is it's up to him now to do the job.

"Okay, Stan, I warned you, but I'll cut to the chase," Joshua started to speak in a serious tone. "I began to suspect that this fish is not a fish at all."

"What are you talking about, shrimp?" Stan was at this point losing his patience.

"Yeah, what are you talking about?" Mabel asked as well.

"What I'm trying to say is that the fish Stan caught maybe something else entirely" Joshua explained. "One that might put our safety in jeopardy."

"What?!" Stan was flabbergasted in disbelief at this point. "Shrimp, you're being delusional."

Joshua, now clearly fed up of his boss's stubbornness, pushed Stan aside and grabbed the fishing rod. "Fine, I'll show you what I mean!"

"Stan!" Soos cried as he held his boss.

"Joshua, what are you doing?!" Dipper demanded.

Joshua formed a confident smile as he reeled in the prey. "Oh, I'll prove to you that I'm not delusional starting…" The fishing line is now inches away from the boat. "... Now!"

With enough strength Joshua raised the fishing rod pulling out the fishing hook and whatever it's trapped on the hook and without looking Joshua turned to the others with his confident expression still on his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…this!"

Joshua held the fish hook with a proud look on his face as he visualized everyone being shocked, amazed and complimenting him for being wrong and hearing things like "We're wrong Joshua!" and similar praises. But what he got instead we're four different expressions from each of the gang; Stan's expression was beyond anger, Soos had the blankest stare, Dipper shook his head and Mabel gave Joshua a puzzled look before finally spoke.

"A twelve foot red snapper? That's what you were so flabbergasted about?"

"What? No!" Joshua glared at the brunette girl before turning his head and what he saw mentally slapped in the face; It was as Mabel said, a twelve foot red snapper dangling from the fishing hook all while flapping frantically. Joshua instantly went from being confident to feeling completely humiliated.

"Can I have my red snapper now, shrimp?" Stan impatiently asked, more like demand given the tone of his tone.

Joshua just stood there frozen in his own stupidity and try to speak, but due humiliating himself, he couldn't utter a single word and after numerous tries to explain himself, he ultimately threw up his arms in frustration and in defeat.

"UGH! Never mind! False alarm, everyone!" Joshua threw the fishing pole with the red snapper in the air and walked back towards the helm of the ship leaving their group to resume fishing.

"Watch it, shrimp!" Stan called Joshua out for throwing his prized fishing hole and his newly caught fish.

Soos helped his boss while the twins looked at Joshua heading in the front the ship clearly vivid of what he just did and then each other.

"I wonder what was that about?" Dipper asked.

"I'll go checked up with Joshua," Mabel suggested, as she walked where Joshua is only to stopped by her younger twin.

"I think it would be best that you would leave him be to cool off," Dipper suggested.

Mabel nodded her head. "No, I'm gonna check up on him. It seems that Joshua is pretty mad."

Disregarding her brother's words, Mabel ran towards the helm of the ship to check up on her friend, who had his arms folded and retaining his irritated expression even after he began noticing Mabel.

"Oh, hey Mabel," Joshua melancholy greeted. "Do you need me for something?"

Mabel quickly shook her head. "No Joshua, but I noticed that you are steamed about something. Care to tell me?"

"No, you wouldn't believe me even if I tell you," Joshua try to dismiss it but Mabel isn't having any of it.

"Come on Joshua, I promised that I won't laugh or think of you as a liar," Mabel did her best in trying to reconsider.

Joshua stared at his friend for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "Okay, the reason why I'm upset is because-" He started before being interrupted by an excited Soos.

"Hey dudes! I caught something!" Soos exclaimed as he held the fishing rod and slowly reeling in his catch.

"Oh, no way, Soos!" Dipper cheered his friend as he watch happily. "Let's see if Soos's catch is bigger than Stan's."

"I like to see that," Stan begrudgingly spoke, folding his arms. Joshua and Mabel walked outside to join the others while the former is telling his story.

"...And that's why I thought that there were something strange was amiss," Joshua finished before sighing. "You must think I'm insane, huh?"

Mabel nodded her head. "Not at all Joshua, in fact I believe you!"

This caught Joshua by surprise. "You do?"

"Of course!" Mabel replied. "So after gather all the evidence you've got have you figured out the creature is?"

"There's no doubt about about the creature I concluded is a k-" Joshua begin to speak until he glimpsed over Mabel's shoulder and what he saw completely petrified him. "K-K-K-K-K-"

Mabel made an confused look as she witness her friend repeating himself. "Joshua? Are you okay?"

Joshua was too terrified to respond and instead raised his arm and pointed towards the lake. Mabel did just that and turned around to see on what was scaring their friend and what she saw made her jaw dropped. Dipper and Stan were scratching their heads in what to make of the sight of what Soos had caught, but it wasn't a fish a all; It was strange creature that was shockingly humanoid and was the size roughly around a human child, but it possessed very fish-like features such as green skin, green eyes, a large orange yellow beak, a shell on its back and finally, a plate resting on top of it's where for some odd reason, it was completely hairless. The creature gave off a raspy fish odor that was very revolting to bear, as if the creature had swam in some sewage.

"Oh…my…GOD! What is that?" Dipper asked, as he stood there shell shocked.

"Whatever it is, it's stinks!" Stan pinched his nose, disgusted by the odor that the creature was giving off.

Soos stood there and examined his catch. "I think it's a…"

" **KAPPA!** " Joshua finished Soos's sentence, much to his confusion.

"Really dude?" Soos asked a bit shocked. "Cause I was thinking it's a turtle that was mutated.

"Soos!" Joshua called out to him. "Get away from that thing! Those things are dangerous!"

"What? This adorable thing is dangerous?" Soos burst out laughing clearly dismissing Joshua's warning. "Yeah right, dude! It's so small that you can hug it! You know what, I'm gonna do that right now!"

As Soos attempted to hug the creature the Kappa formed a smirk before quickly charging towards Dipper.

"Whoa, what it's doing?!" Dipper asked before being grabbed by the neck and dragged towards the water.

"Dipper!" Everyone cried.

" **Help!** " Dipper pleaded for help, as he and the kappa jumped of the boat and into the water.

"Oh no you don't!" Joshua exclaimed, grabbing the harpoon gun that was resting on the left side of the ship, strapped the sharp edge with a fishing net and carefully took aim. After taking careful aim he fired it directly towards Dipper and the Kappa whom were swiftly swam in the water. The fishing net opened up and managed to entrapped them much to the satisfaction of Joshua.

"Got ha!" Joshua let out a confident smile.

"Whoa, nice shot Joshua!" Mabel complimented.

"No time to rest! I gonna need help fast!" Joshua said feverishly.

"Why you need help?" Soos asked. "You totally got this under control."

Joshua shook his head. "No I don't. You may think that but Kappa are water creatures so they are stronger when they are in water so I need some assist-"

Before he could finished talking he was dragged off the ship and fell into the water with his hands still gripped on the harpoon gun.

"WAH!" Joshua shouted the last part of his word before being dragged off in the water as the Kappa is speeding off in rapid speeds much to the shock everyone on board.

"Holy Guacamole!" Stan' eyes wided.

"Follow that water trail!" Mabel commanded.

"Aye Aye Cap'n Mabel!" Soos answered as he ran the helm of the boat and started the engine and before long they were now giving chase. Due to Joshua's head hasn't fully submerged underwater they were able to follow the trail until they reached an area that shrouded in mist.

While Stan have no idea where they were, Mabel and Soos instantly recognized this area; it was the same place where the two of them and Dipper stumbled across this place four years ago, where they were trying to find the rumored Gobblewonker that appeared here where in reality it turned out to be a robot that was controlled by Old Man Mcgucket in an attempts to get closer to his son.

"Ah great! We lost the shrimp!" Stan complained.

"Stan, Joshua has a name ya know!" Mabel annoyingly shook her head. "Soos, head for that small island."

Soos nodded his head "You got it, Cap'n!"

* * *

Joshua was currently exploring the forest that he stumbled upon, beginning his search for Dipper. He lost him and the kappa that took his friend several minutes ago, due to a combination of losing his handling on the harpoon gun and exhaustion from the kappa's rapid swimming, doing sharp turns and rough tossing in numerous attempts to shake off its pursuer. He was able to endure most of the punishment that the kappa threw at him except where at the lost moment where the kappa entered inside a small hole that leads to, from what Joshua presumed is it's home. The hole was too small for Joshua to fit in, let alone to keep following and his body was getting badly bruised from being collided with rocks and sea plants, as well as being in underwater and nearly drowning in the process.

Joshua was trending slowly given the reduced visibility of his surroundings as a result of the heavy and dense mist combined that with complete lack of light. Because of this Joshua decided to take everything he does in a slow but caution approach as he didn't want to be caught off guard by the kappa whom he can foresee the water creature using the mist to it's advantage keeping itself hidden and following it's prey patiently waiting the blonde teenager himself to let his guard and strike.

He was so sure about that possible scenario come to fruition that, upon hearing footsteps, he immediately stopped and carefully listen where the footsteps are coming from.

"Oh crap, they're coming from my left," Joshua quietly noted. "I need to hide so I won't be seen but where?"

Joshua look around a saw a nearby tree and instantly ran towards behind it wait start to wait. While this was happening he saw a tree branch and quickly grabbed it; the tree branch is quite surprisingly somewhat heavily but it was enough for him not only to carry it without the weight interfering his handling but also have enough weight to inflict some good amount of damage to his opponents. As the footsteps got louder, Joshua began to take a few deep breaths, preparing to attack. Upon noticing a shadow just a few inches away from him, Joshua cleared whatever thoughts he had and came out and immediately launch his attack.

 _'I have you now!'_ Joshua mentally shouted as he began to enter fight or flight mode.

Meanwhile, Mabel and Soos were looking for Stan, as they were separated due to the dense fog.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel called out, hoping to receive an answer but to no avail.

"Stan!" Soos yelled as well.

Mabel groaned. "Come on, Stan has to be out somewhere!"

"I'm sure he'll come up." Soos said. "Just keep looking!"

Just then, they heard a familiar voice coming from a distance. "Mabel! Soos! Grunkle Stan! Joshua! Anybody!"

Both Mabel and Soos's eyes wided. "D-Dipper?!"

"Is that you Soos?!" Dipper asked.

"Yes dude! Mabel is here with me! But we lost Stan so we were looking for him." Soos answered.

"Okay, just follow my voice!" Dipper said.

Mabel and Soos did just that and after a few moments of exchanging words, both of them were reunited with Dipper, whom were accompanied by four small children.

"Dipper!" Mabel embraced her brother. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Mabel, I'm fine," Dipper replied, as he glanced back at the four children, who were frightened out of their minds.

"Dipper? What's with the four children?" Soos asked shocked.

Dipper made a rather sad expression. "It's that sea creature. It kidnapped them."

"Whoa, really Dipper?!" Soos asked being more shocked as ever.

Mabel let out a gasp. "Dipper, these kids…they matched the description of the missing children Joshua mentioned me about."

Dipper stared at his sister in shock. **"What?!"**

"Yeah Dipper, four children vanished about three and a half months ago and these children that disappeared are three boys and one girl. These children are clearly identical of what the pictures Joshua showed me," Mabel explained.

"Is that true?" Dipper asked the four children. One boy who had black hair and blue eyes nodded.

"Y-yes…"

"We couldn't understand what that things said but it seems like they want to eat us!" A boy with brown hair and black eyes added.

"W-W-What?!" Mabel gasped in shock. "What kind of creature would want to harm children?! Let alone eat them!"

"Well apparently that thing that happened to kidnapped us!" The sole girl with honey light brown hair and brown eyes snapped.

"I just wanna go home!" The last boy with albino white hair and black eyes cried.

Mabel hugged the albino white hair boy. "Don't worry, we'll take you home."

The boy looked at Mabel and smiled as he hugged her, which the brunette returned the hug. Unfortunately the sweet and tender moment was sorely ended when Dipper spoke.

"Okay, we need to find Joshua and Stan."

Soos and Mabel nodded while the children decided to take along with them as they didn't want to be left alone in this unbearable mist. The four children stayed behind Mabel and Soos, while Dipper lead the group. The mist made visibility such a pain for everyone in the group, especially the children, since the kappa could be hidden anywhere and despite Soos, Mabel and Dipper promised that they would protect them the three of them couldn't deny the tension they were feeling from head to toe. Given what they know about the Kappa they would need to be cautious and ready for anything.

After a while of walking they stumbled upon a cave. For the children, it was those dreadful memories of being caged in there for almost four months with all four of the children wish to forget asap. For Soos, Mabel and Dipper it brought them memories of finding out the truth about the fabled Gobblewonker monster being a fake.

"This is the cave that the children and I were held." Dipper spoke as he let out a deep breath. "Soos? Mabel? Are you ready?"

"Ready dude! We have your back!" Soos replied with confidence.

"I'm ready as ever," Mabel agreed as well.

"Okay," Dipper then faced the four children. "You can stay here near the cave entrance. You don't have go inside if you don't want to."

All four of the children decided to wait at the entrance instead of going in leaving Soos and the twins entering in the cave ready to stop the Kappa on whatever they're planning and hopefully find Joshua and Stan and get the hell out of here and get the four children to safety. After a minute of walking, they finally stumbled inside the cave and what they saw shook them to the core. In front of them was a kappa, or rather, three Kappas inside sitting amounts themselves speaking in a language that neither Soos, Dipper and Mabel could understand. While there was the green colored Kappa that took Dipper there were a blue colored Kappa and a yellow colored Kappa with both of them have similar features such as reptilian skin, yellow beak, green eyes, shells of their backs and the plate on top of their heads that were also hairless. Sitting across them was Joshua and Stan whom were tied in seaweed.

"Grunkle St-" Mabel shouted before Dipper covered her mouth cutting her off.

"Mabel!" Dipper whispered harshly as they hid behind a small rock. "We have to keep quiet."

Mabel glared at her brother. "We have to save them!"

"We will, I promise," Dipper nodded as he glanced over the three Kappas trying to figure what they were saying.

"Damn it, I'm trying to figure out what they're saying but I can't!" Dipper groaned in frustration.

Soos then begin to crawl closer to hear what the Kappas were saying, but was unable to understand them. "Nope, I can't figure out what they're saying."

"Why am I not surprised?" Dipper rolled his eyes.

While Soos and the twins were sitting to discuss a plan, the three Kappas are talking amongst themselves.

"Ugh, I can't believe I let the children escape under my beak!" The green kappa groaned.

The blue Kappa glared at the green Kappa. "Seriously though, how could you let that happen?!"

"Well you can thank that brat who was wearing that blue and white cap!" The green Kappa snapped as he was referring to Dipper.

"Excuses excuses!" The yellow Kappa sighed. "At least we fixed your mistake."

The three kappas turn towards Joshua and Stan, who were struggling free themselves, but the seaweed that bind them together is surprisingly tough.

"You had to hit me over the with a tree branch, didn't you, shrimp?" Stan spoke bitterly.

"Hey, I'm sorry, boss!" Joshua snapped. "I thought you were the Kappas!"

"Well, I wasn't and because of that we were easily captured!" Stan argued.

Joshua glared at his "boss" before sighing. There was no denying that his miscalculations ended up with them being captured as a result. Worse, both of them still haven't found the others and they were probably looking for them. As much as Joshua wanted to sulk in guilt, he quickly shook his head and spoke up.

"Okay, I think we can get out of this," Joshua said.

"How, shrimp?!" An irritated Stan asked.

"I can understand what language they're speaking believe it or not," Joshua confessed.

"You speak monster language, shrimp?"

"It's not monster language and stop calling me shrimp! Joshua stated otherwise. "Anyway, the kappas are speaking Japanese, which makes a lot sense, given the mythos of their species as a whole originated in Japan."

Stan only looked at his new employee in slight shock. "Really?" Joshua nodded his head.

"Yes and not only I can understand the language, but I can also speak it as well. I can try to persuade them in letting us go."

Stan look at the three kappas, before looking at Joshua. It was clear that he will have to rely on Joshua to get out of this situation; it was either that or both of them would suffered a fate that Stan can't imagine and he wouldn't want to neither.

"Okay, I'll leave this to you, shrimp," Stan spoke.

With Stan's support, Joshua starts his plan into motion by clearing his throat since he know that he will be speaking another language and talking up a storm. "Konichiwa!"

This caused the three Kappas to look at the blonde teenager in complete shock.

"You…" the yellow kappa began. "... can speak Japanese?"

"Yes, I can speak Japanese," Joshua confirmed. "Anyway, what are you doing? Why did you capture us?"

"Well, we had our meals vanished, no thanks to the boy with the blue and white hat," The blue kappa answered.

"And now we're slowly starving," The green kappa explained.

"That explains your guy's behavior; your only wanted food and all three of you got desperate," Joshua acknowledge their actions. "But still, kidnapping children is wrong."

"We can't help it! Human children is like our favorite food ever!" The blue kappa stated.

Those words made Joshua turned pale and almost sick to his stomach but he continue on. "Look, how about we negotiate a deal okay?"

The three Kappas looked at each other and talked amongst themselves for a moment, until they came up their answer.

"We're listening…" The yellow kappa spoke cautiously.

"Okay, how about we find something that is more delicious than human children? Like cucumbers, for example," Joshua suggested.

The word "cucumbers" caught the three kappa's full attention. If there was one thing that Kappas loved to eat, it was cucumbers.

"Cucumbers…." The green kappa started to drool.

"It's been a while the last time we had our favorite food!" The blue kappa said with excitement.

"Okay human, if you can deliver our favorite food, we won't eat you," The yellow kappa said.

"Deal!" Joshua agreed. "Now can either of you please untie us?"

"Oh alright," The yellow Kappa ripped the seaweed apart ultimately freeing them much to the shock of Dipper, Soos and Mabel who watched the whole from afar.

"Whoa! Joshua spoke to them and they freed him and Stan." Dipper spoke.

"No kidding!" Soos added.

"Joshua, that was awesome!" Mabel praised her friend.

"Guys, they're coming our way!" Dipper said. "Let's get outta here!"

Mabel and Soos nodded their heads and the three of them quickly bolted towards the entrance, where they waited alongside the four children for Stan, Joshua and the three Kappas; after a few minutes of waiting, they showed up. Mabel hugged Grunkle Stan and Joshua. seeing them unharmed. Upon seeing the four children. the green Kappa screech at them.

"Human children!" The green Kappa drool for a bit until it was smack in the head by the yellow kappa.

"We're not eating the human children, as we made a deal with them, remember?!" The yellow kappa scowled.

The green kappa rubbed it's head. "Watch where you hit me at! I don't want my plate to fall off!"

"Oh you'll live, so stop acting like a baby!" The blue kappa chimed in.

The green kappa rolled it's eyes as they followed the rest of the gang through the mist as they walked. Dipper who were near his sister headed towards Joshua.

"Dude, what did you say that made them free you and Stan?" Dipper asked.

"I'll tell you later. Right now, I want you to text Wendy and ask her to bring cucumbers. **A LOT** of them," Joshua replied.

"Why?" Dipper gave him a confused look.

"Just do it, because they are the key for my plan to work," Joshua stressed, causing Dipper to listen to his demands and texted Wendy for several minutes as they walked.

"Okay, Wendy said that she got the cucumbers and is on her way here on boat," Dipper texted to Wendy.

"Good now all we need to do is to get back at our boat and wait." Joshua said.

Everyone continued on for a few more minutes and finally stumbled the coast, where the white boat was stationed at.

"Where is the cucumbers you promised?" The yellow kappa asked impatiently.

"Relax, you'll get it," Joshua answered.

"Wait…you're trying to trick us, aren't ya?!" The blue kappa became very suspicious.

Joshua quickly nodded in denial. "No, I'm not tricking you at all!"

The three kappas heard enough. "Silence human! Since your tricked us all of us is gonna eat you! Starting you and then the human children!" The green kappa licked his teeth.

"Like hell you will!" Joshua opposed, as he turned to the others. "Guys, take the children and run!"

In an instant, Joshua found himself attacked by the yellow kappa, with it on his chest and bruising his face, much to the gang's shock.

"Joshua!" Mabel cried as she attempted to help her friend only to be stopped by his brother.

"Mabel, get down!" Dipper pointed at the blue kappa charged towards his sister.

It was too late; the blue kappa got on her head and used its strength to tackle her on the ground and dragged her to the water in attempt to drown her.

"Let go of my sister!" Dipper demanded as he and Stan help Mabel leaving Soos alone fending off the green kappa whom were trying to get it's hand on the four children.

"Human children!" The green kappa screamed in delight as it drool immensely causing them to scream in fear.

"Don't you worry! I'm gonna protect you!" Soos declared as he stood bravely in front of the children.

"You shouldn't have tricked us human!" The yellow kappa shrieked.

Joshua was now on the ground with his head inches away from the water. "Damnit, I'm not tricking you it's jus-"

"Lies!" The yellow kappa snapped. "Now I will drown you and then eat you!"

Joshua is using everything to hold out in his own but it's easier said than done; due to the kappa's plate being filled with water and it's head constantly wet at all times the kappa is able to overpower him with ease and have him pinned with every intent on drowning him.

"Damn it! This can't end like this!" Joshua cursed himself.

Just then from a distance a familiar voice is heard. "Dipper! Mabel! Soos! Stan! Joshua!"

Joshua turned his head and saw a small boat heading towards them. "Is that…Wendy?!"

"Omg," Wendy gasped as she got a clear look at the scene, "What's going on?!"

"Throw the cucumbers! Now!" Joshua ordered.

Wendy did what she was told and threw three bags of cucumbers at the blonde teenager. Upon landing next to him, Joshua instantly grabbed them and displayed them out in the air for all three kappas to see. Instantly, they stopped what they were doing and glanced at the bag, before rushing towards the bag, ripped it and begin eating the cucumbers. While this was happening everyone regrouped with Wendy now being among them.

"Whew, look like we're safe," Joshua said.

"Whoa, what are those things!?" Wendy gasped.

"They're called Kappas," Joshua answered causing everyone to look in confusion.

"Kappas?" Soos was the first one to ask.

Joshua nodded as he was about to explain what the Kappa's are only to be cut off by the Kappa speaking.

"Thank you for keeping your promise human." The yellow kappa smiled.

"Sorry for attacking you like that," The blue kappa apologized.

"We hope you can forgive us," The green kappa said in guilt.

Everyone couldn't tell what the kappas were saying, but Joshua, however, could.

"It's okay, I'm glad you gotten some food," Joshua said, before bowing at the Kappas, which resulted the three of them to follow suit and politely bowed back, resulting their plates to fall off their heads.

"Wha?" the green kappa spoke in shock.

"I can't move!" the yellow kappa cried.

"Me either! And what's worse our plates fell off! Without water, we will die!" the blue kappa panicked.

"Yes!" Joshua cheered in victory. "Come on guys let's go home!"

"What did you do?" Mabel asked.

"Who cares!" Stan yelled in laughter. "The shrimp beat these freaks!"

Everyone board on the white boat, while Wendy and Dipper boarded on the wooden boat. As Joshua got onto the former, he glanced back at the three kappas whom were still bend over frozen in place. Joshua thought for a moment or so until he decided to get off the boat and help the kappa by getting all three of their plates and filled it with water, before setting them on back on their heads, much to the shock but eternal gratitude from each of them and much to the dismay of everyone else.

"You saved us, human!" The yellow kappa thanked the blonde haired teenager.

"We would have died, if it hadn't been for you," The green kappa nodded in gratitude.

"For saving all of us we will serve you for all eternity master." The blue kappa swore as it gave him a small light blue orb. "Use this to call us and we will be by your side obeying your every command."

Joshua shook his head, as he took the orb, foreseeing this possibility. "Well, if that's the case, then I ordered you to stop causing problems for this town."

"But why?!" The green kappa whined. "Causing problems for humans is fun!"

"Be that as it may be, a number of people are suffering because you three!" Joshua harshly criticized the three kappas. "The parents of those four children you took are probably drowning themselves in grief!"

The three kappas felt really bad for causing so much trouble for the people who lived in this small town.

"We're sorry, master," The blue kappa sighed. "We won't do it again."

"See that you don't and I'll reward you with anything you want," Joshua promised.

"Anything?" The green kappa eyes lit up.

Joshua nodded. "Yes and as long it doesn't ended up hurting someone in the long run, considered it done."

"Wow… thank you master… we haven't met a human to be so generous to us." The yellow kappa looked Joshua with awe.

"Keep listening to me and you'll be on my good side," Joshua said, before handing the three kappas a few more bags of cucumbers, much to their delight.

"We will, master!" The green kappa promised as the three kappas watch Joshua getting on board on the white boat, before finding their master facing them one more time.

"Oh and last but not least, I heard of an attack of a young woman that occurred last night. While I don't know what was the story behind it, I do know that one of you three may be responsible, since a kappa only attack women who wanted to impregnate them. If any of you three are responsible for the attack, I want to hear any of you confess. Even though I haven't received word of the victim being pregnant…at least not yet anyways, I'll be following closely and keep an eye on you. One more thing, should guys ever try to lie or keep me in the dark, I'll punish _all_ of you."

Joshua formed a dark and menacing glare that gave all three kappas shivers down their bodies resulting all three of them agreed to listen to their master's wishes. After seeing that the three kappas will have his full obedience Joshua took his left with the rest of the gang sailing home.

"Whew! What a day!" Stan stressed. "I'll tell ya, I'm getting too old for this."

 _'And yet, you have the time to overcharge and make outrageous prices at the shop. Very hypocritical coming from you, boss,'_ Joshua thought, as he watched Stan relaxing on his fishing chair, before being Dipper called him out from across.

"Whoa! I can't believe you managed to understand and speak to those…." Dipper stopped as he scratched his head. "...What was they called?"

"They're called Kappas, Dipper," Joshua replied as he slightly chuckled.

Mabel ran up to Joshua and hugged him. "Wow, I never thought you be able to speak monster language."

Joshua annoyingly glared at the brunette. "It's not monster language! They were speaking Japanese."

"Really?" Mabel asked shock.

"Yes," Joshua stressed. "You're acting like what I done is a grand achievement."

Mabel scratched her head. "Well, no one could speak a different language like you, so given the pickle we was in, it helped us in the end."

Joshua only rolled his eyes, as he and everyone headed towards shore. Today was an unexpected day for Joshua; from being forced to work for Stan to unknowingly discovered the existence of Kappas whom after saving them swore eternal obedience to him Joshua don't know what to make of the events that happened. A part of him still tell him that it's only a dream and the kappas aren't real at all but after much self testing he realized that the kappas were real and it's not a dream at all.

Joshua looked at Dipper, who was talking with Wendy and Mabel, catering to the four children that were kidnapped. The twins mentioned about this small town and why they love it here and initially, he didn't see what was so special about Gravity Falls, but after todays he quickly realized why: the discovery of creatures that usually exist only in myths and the discovery of Kappas made him to actually look forward his days stay here in Gravity Falls to discover more about this small town, post working for his boss not withstanding.

"By the way, Joshua," Dipper spoke as he drove the small brown boat closer to Joshua, "Are you sure that the Kappa wouldn't cause anymore trouble?"

Joshua nodded. "I'm positively sure, Dipper. After all, I spoke to them in Japanese, remember?"

"Good point there," Dipper let out a sigh and trust Joshua's words. "All right, I'll take you word on it."

Joshua laughed a bit, as he and the rest of the gang continued on to head to the docks and called it a day.

* * *

Back at the Kappa's home the three kappa were getting ready to go to sleep.

"Ah, my belly is full from eating those delicious cucumbers!" The yellow Kappa sighed happily.

"The master was very generous!" The green kappa exclaimed smiling brightly.

"Yeah," The blue kappa was sweating profusely.

"What's wrong?" The green kappa asked in concern. "For the past few hours you've been acting weird."

"I have not!" The blue kappa snapped. "Look, let's just go to sleep, okay? We have to be our best condition if we want to serve our master."

"Agreed," The yellow kappa spoke. "We need to meet our master's expectations at all times."

"Right!" The green kappa added.

And so the three kappas laid down on their beds that is literally small shallow ponds and begin drifting asleep. While the yellow and green kappa slept peacefully the blue kappa however, is not so lucky as it started to twist and turn in the water and talking in his sleep.

"No…master…I.. didn't mean to…I was just looking for a person to carry my… please have mercy on me!"

Before long, the blue kappa jolted awake with a loud gasp and breathing heavily before going to back to bed.

"I hope my master would go easy on me," was the last words the blue kappa muttered as he drifted to sleep very anxious of whatever Joshua have in store for them in the months to come.

 **And there you go! That wraps up of the first mystery since arriving here in this small town. Hope you enjoy the two part chapter and I wanted to announced that the story will have some level of slightly AU but I will keep the show continuity in place to blend and balanced both of them. Hope you understand.**

 **And one last thing, the next chapter will be a bit shorter but still be long enough for a fun and satisfied read.**

 **Until the next chapter is posted, Ciao and thank you for the support!**


	6. Chapter 5

**I'm back with another chapter done! Enjoy!**

It was a quiet morning at Gravity Falls and its people began waking up to start their day. At the Mystery Shack, things were still a bit quiet, as everyone were still sleeping, except for a certain blonde teenager.

Joshua was currently in his room, resting his bed and watching Youtube videos through his phone, since the room he was staying didn't have its own TV. He began slowly visualized the twins and his boss' rooms, having one leaving him with getting the second class treatment, much to his annoyance and dismay.

After a moment or so of sulking, he quickly calmed down and resumed watching Youtube. Despite being treated as a low level employer from his boss, he was determined to tough it out, because he made a promise to Mr. Pines back in California and he planned to keep his promise. Plus, he had nowhere to go anyway and being on the run going from place to to place didn't sit very well for him either.

"I'll just have to toughen it out," Joshua stated. "I will get through this, even if my boss is an asshole."

Just then he heard a door creaked opened and it made him jump a bit. "Who's there?!"

When he got up off his bed to get a better view of whoever it was at the door, he saw a small snout that was sticking out from the frame Joshua then walked towards his door and opened it, revealing a small pig that was pink as a bubblegum, with a brown collar surrounding on it's neck.

"Huh? A pig?" Joshua raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What is a pig doing here? And how did it get inside?"

Joshua picked up the pig and made his way to the twins to inform the two. When he got there, he knocked on the door a few times before he got a response.

"Who is it?" A sleepy Mabel asked.

"Mabel? It's me," Joshua replied. "Listen, a pig got inside here."

Hearing the word "pig" made the brunette wake herself up. "Hold on, is that Waddles you're talking about?"

"Waddles?" Joshua then glimpse at the pig's collar where he saw a gold coin name-tag that read "Waddles". "Uh, I guess it is."

Mabel quickly opened the door and grabbed the pig from Joshua's hands.

"Waddles, bad pig!" Mabel scowled her pet. "You should know better than to enter Joshua's room."

Waddles look down sadly in regret, causing his owner to hugged him.

"Oh I'm so sorry Waddles for scolding you like that." Mabel apologized as she affectionately nuzzled her pet much to the shock of Joshua who was standing there.

"Please excuse Waddles. He doesn't know any better"" Joshua nodded his head.

"It's fine, Mabel, though I'm still shocked that Stan allows you to have a pet, let alone a pig, for the matter."

Mabel frowned at the blonde teenager. "You're making it sound like Grunkle Stan is the worst person in the world!"

"He isn't," Joshua objected. "At least, not yet anyway, but he's on the road on gaining that title. He should be honored."

"Not funny Joshua," Mabel rolled her eyes in annoyance, as she watched Joshua chuckling away.

"Anyway, I'll head back to my room. See you in a bit," Joshua made his way back to his room, with Mabel watching him, before closing the door and retreat back to her back, carrying Waddles with he.

"I hope Joshua can later see Grunkle Stan is a nice person, once he knows him better," Mabel muttered, laying down on her bed and went back to sleep, with Waddles resting alongside her.

* * *

After almost a couple of hours have passed by, everyone started to slowly wake up and start their day off, but a bit late than usual. Stan, Joshua and the twins were currently in the kitchen, with Stan making breakfast. As their paternal guardian is fixing their meals, Mabel started a conversation.

"Hey Joshua, how are you?" The brunette asked.

"Oh I'm fine, Mabel," Joshua replied. "But I'm still a bit shellshocked from finding out that Kappa exist."

"I know, but what I'm more surprised of your knowledge about them!" Dipper chimed in on the conversation. "Like seriously, how did you know about them?"

Joshua smug upon seeing his friend going a bit bewildered, recalling Wendy's words. "I know a thing or two about Japanese mythos, Dipper."

"Why didn't you tell me about your interest in supernatural?!" Dipper asked still retaining his excitement tone in his voice.

"Well, I didn't think you were into creatures from Japanese mythology," Joshua bashfully scratched his head. "Given that some are into one specific mythos but don't show interest in other myths outside what they like."

Dipper nodded. "That make sense."

"Breakfast is ready!" Stan announced.

Grunkle Stan served the kids bacon and eggs. While the twins were happily eating away their food, Joshua was very hesitant, remembering the last time his boss served him food, he found strands of hair inside and since then, he does his best not eat any food that Stan served him, in fear that he might find strands of hair in his food or worse.

It didn't took Stan too long to notice Joshua's reaction, as he gave the blonde teenager a look. "Shrimp, are you going to eat what I gave you this time or are you gonna play the whole not hungry card again?"

Joshua bit his lip trying not to lose his temper while simultaneously glared at him before sighing. "No, I'll eat."

Joshua took his fork and look at his breakfast. He didn't spot anything gross and the food looked good. With this in mind, he took a bite of his eggs and afterwards, munched away his meals, much to his delight, with the twins followed suit, leaving Stan staring at Joshua as he sipped his coffee.

"I swear, that kid ain't right."

After the gang finished their breakfast, they got dressed for work. Since it was Monday, Wendy have school all day until mid afternoon, leaving the twins and Joshua to help Soos with the Mystery Shack, much to Dipper's dismay, as his crush wouldn't be present. It was a about a half hour until the shack opened for business, so the kids decided to watch TV in the living room as Stan was still in his room.

"Say," Mabel started. "How about we take a nice stroll around town?"

"You know, that's a good idea, Mabel," Dipper agreed. "We can show him other places to go and to have fun as well."

Joshua shrugged with indifference. "Sure, I don't mind. As long as it beats being indoors all day."

Mable clapped her hands in happiness. "Perfect!"

"When we do go out please try not to do anything that would cause trouble," Dipper insisted.

"You sound like everything I do will instantly spell back luck!" Mabel childishly pouted.

Mabel and Dipper begin to argue while Joshua watched the twins in slight amusement.

* * *

The morning went by fairly quickly ,as the trio helped around the Mystery Shack. As usual, the twins were stationed at the cash register, while Joshua cleaned around the shack and helping Soos out with his tours. When lunch hours arrived, the twins and Joshua decided to go into town and eat, a suggestion that Soos and Stan approved, but the latter did warned to come back at a specific time, unless they get punished for being MIA on the job.

When they left, the trio head towards the only diner in town to grab some grub. It was also the nearest place, since other fast food deemed it too far for them to travel on foot and taking the bus around Gravity Falls was rather some-what infamous for it's unusual long wait time.

As they entered inside the diner, the smell of fresh foods caused Mabel to form a smile. "How long I miss this place."

"It sound like this is your favorite spot to eat," Joshua spoke as they followed the waitress.

"The food is good," Dipper chimed in. "I can tell you that much. Plus it's the nearest place to eat."

"Fair enough," Joshua nodded as he took a seat at their arrived table.

The trio glanced at the menus for a good few moments, before each of them decided what they want and waited for another waiter or waitress to take their order. It didn't took too long as a certain middle aged waitress approached them with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey you two," The waitress greeted. "Long time no see!"

Dipper waved. "Hey Lazy Susan!"

Mabel gasped. "Lazy Susan! How have you been?" The waitress chuckled.

"I've been alright, Mabel. But you certain have grown into a fine young woman."

Mabel blushed by Lazy Susan's compliment. She did came a long way over the past four years; she had her braces removed after having on wearing them throughout childhood and early teens and her appearance went into slight change as well. While she maintain her looks and personality, her hair grew considerably that it covered her mid back and her freckles darkened a bit. From those few years alone, she matured from a gushy pre teen to even an gushier teenager. It wasn't much of achievement, but Mabel is very proud of what she had and displayed it with no shame at all.

"Why thank you, Lazy Eye Susan," Mabel playfully changed her tone to match that of a lovely woman from an upper class. "The past four years have been really good to me."

Lazy Susan only chuckled. "Now what do you like to have, youngsters?"

"I'll have…" Mabel started. "Number twenty four."

"And I'll have number thirty one." Dipper said.

"For me, I'll have number thirty nine." Joshua added.

Lazy Susan nodded as she wrote down the orders. "Any who is this young fellow right here? A friend of yours?"

"Why yes, yes it is!" Mabel spoke with enthusiasm, followed by a high class accent. "His name is Joshua and he's a very nice person."

"Mabel!" Joshua shouted in annoyance. "It's nice to meet you, Lazy Susan."

"Likewise," Susan winked. "If you need anything don't be afraid to ask. Anyway, I'll be back with your food. Oh! I almost forgot, what drinks do you three want?"

"I'll have myself a soda," Dipper replied.

"Pink lemonade, my good lady friend." Mabel answered.

"Mabel!" An irritable Joshua snapped. "I'll have myself a soda too.."

Lady Susan nodded and headed back at the kitchen to get their orders up and ready to be made leaving the trio alone.

"Wow, age hasn't slowed Lazy Susan down," Mabel said happily. "She's still working after all these years."

"Mabel," Joshua started firmly. "What was that all about?"

"What do you mean?" Mabel asked.

"You speaking in that high class accent," Joshua point out.

Mabel gave Joshua a look. "What's wrong with it?"

"Yeah what's wrong with my sister imitating a high class person?" Dipper asked.

"It's…" Joshua began to speak before shaking his head. "Never mind. Just forget I brought that up in the first place."

The pines twins looked at each other before Joshua himself. Judging from his distress, it became a bit evident that something was bothering him and Mabel's mimicry of an upper class accent just caused Joshua to be more distressed. Mabel wanted to speak up and talk to him about it, but with Dipper's interference, she decided to leave it as it is for now.

After waiting for a few minutes, the trio got their drinks followed by a fifteenth to twenty minute waiting time before Lazy Eye Susan delivered their food. Mabel ordered up a bacon cheeseburger that comes with regular seasoned fries, Dipper ordered a steak burrito that came with refried beans with shredded cheddar cheese sprinkled on top of it and rice and Joshua ordered salmon that came with mac and cheese and greens beans and a hot steamed roll.

As the trio ate their lunch they engage into typical teenagers conversation. Mabel talked about typical girl stuff much to the two boys dismay as her topic were mostly about what you can expect from her like vampires and boy bands. In fact she had to resort using Joshua's phone display sexy vampires since her phone is a bit old fashion in contrast the blonde teenager having a smartphone furthering adding Dipper and Joshua's annoyance.

The trio finished their food and paid the cashier at the front before leaving a tip for Lady Susan and left the diner. Upon leaving the diner Mabel let out the biggest belch she stored inside.

"Ahhhh, that hit the spot." Mabel proclaimed happily.

"Seriously Mabel?" Dipper glared his sister for belching so close to him.

"What? It's not good for a person to hold in gas." Mabel pointed out. "Be lucky I didn't fart."

Dipper formed a disguised expression. "Ew! No Mabel!"

As he watched the twins bicker one another, Joshua spotted something strange behind his back and went to investigate. When the twins notice Joshua leaving, they followed him to the back of the diner, where the garbage pin was located. Joshua hid himself and spy on whatever that passes him and what he saw surprised him.

"Joshua!" Mabel shouted. The blonde teenager silenced her.

"Shh! Not so loud!" Joshua scowled the brunette. "Listen I found something unusual. Look!"

The twins glanced over Joshua's shoulder and saw a familiar face: The gnomes.

"Gnomes?" Mabel asked in slight surprise.

"What are they doing here?" Dipper added scratching his head. The twins familiarity with the gnomes caused Joshua to confront them.

"Wait you know these gnomes?" Mabel was the first to speak.

"Yeah, the gnomes were the first thing we discovered upon arriving here for our summer vacation four years ago."

"The gnomes disguised themselves as a brooding teenager who my sister was fawning over, before I saw that something was amiss," Dipper explained.

"And here I thought hoping he would be a vampire," Mabel sighed with disappointment. "But instead, they were gnomes and attacked my brother and I into forcing my hand in marriage!"

Joshua only blinked for a moment, until he let out a few snickers of laughter much to the dismay of the brunette who irritably glared at the blonde teenager.

"Joshua, it's not funny!" Mabel scowled.

"I'm sorry Mabel, but gnomes attacking you and you both had a hard time? That's so pathetic it's funny! How can you NOT laugh at something like that!" Joshua humorously pointed out.

Mable rolled her eyes, while Dipper only shook his head in disbelief before noticing the gnomes were gone.

"Hey, the gnomes are gone," Dipper said. "Well, let's head on back to the Mystery Shack."

"Wait, look!" Joshua point his finger at a few noticeable objects that stood out and walked towards it. "Oh crap! You guys got to see this!"

The twins walked closer to the large garbage stack where the objects are sitting and what they saw almost made their jaws drop. On the left side laid a emerald green necklace with the chain coated with gold and small emeralds jewels, on the middle sat a red colored cap that matched the size of Dipper's cap, but it was decorated with small crimson red rubies embedded in the center that formed a distinctive but strange shape and lastly on the right side is a deep blue sapphire bracelet embedded with small sapphires and silver. All three of them gave out a slight glow.

"Whoa!" Dipper stared at the expensive looking items.

"It's beautiful!" Mabel added before instantly grabbed the sapphire bracelet. "I called dibs on the bracelet!"

"The necklace is mine!" Joshua stated.

"What? I get the cap? Come on!" Dipper complained, before signing in defeat and took the ruby encrusted cap.

The trio try on the items they found before begin to head back to the Mystery Shack but as they walked towards their destination the three items begin to glow very unnaturally until it completely consumed them. After a few seconds, the intense light finally dissipated, leaving each of the teenagers dumbfounded on what just occurred.

"What just happened?" Joshua asked in shock. Dipper was freaking out as well.

"I dunno! Mabel, are you okay?"

"So far, so good," Mabel replied as she scanned her body and find nothing unusual on her body but did noticed something happening to her brother. "Ah! Dipper! Your body is…is…"

"What about my body Mabel?" Dipper asked. Joshua's eyes widened in complete shock.

"Dude, your body is vanishing!"

Dipper looked down and saw that his bottom half was gone! Dipper panicking, before Mabel slapped him to calm her brother down.

"OW!" Dipper groan in soreness. "Mabel!"

"Your welcome, bro bro!" Mabel smiled.

Joshua only shook his head before getting back the situation at hand. "Dipper, I think that cap turned you invisible."

"What?!" Dipper was confused by Joshua's claim. He then took of his cap and suddenly his lower half appear from his eyes, before putting the cap back on and instantly resulted his lower half to disappear again, confirming Joshua's claims.

"Hey, your right! It does turn me invisible!"

"Awesome!" Mabel praised. "I think these items have powers!"

"I wonder what power this necklace bestows on me." Joshua said as he scratched his head in wonder causing both twins to gasped.

"Joshua! Look behind you!" Dipper shouted.

Joshua did just that and saw a random pipe in the air moving up and down in mid air ,much to trio's shock. Joshua stuck out his arm in front of it, causing the pipe to fly backward at immense speed. The teenagers learn that the necklace Joshua wass wearing granted him telekinesis.

"Sweet! I have telekinesis ,baby!" Joshua smiled brightly.

"Aw! You boys get all the good stuff!" Mabel complained before spotting a mouse from a distance, resulting her body to change, much to the boys shock. "Huh, why do I know have the sudden urged to eat all the cheese in the world right now?"

"Mabel," Joshua spoke in caution. "Your ears.. They are.."

"Grey and round!" Dipper finished. "And you have a tail growing out your butt Mabel!"

"Huh? Did you say something boys?" Mabel turned around and the two boys saw a pair of two large teeth grown in front of her adult teeth. Mabel then noticed her tail rubbing her arm, resulting her letting out a big scream.

"I…I've turned into a mouse!" Mabel cried in dismay.

Dipper shook his head. "Just partially, you're still human, but have gained characteristics of a mouse like rodent teeth, a tail and the urge to eat cheese."

"I think Mabel has the ability to change into an animal she sets her eyes on while wearing the bracelet. But it's uncertain if she can fully transform into an animal." Joshua stated.

"That's…so… cool!" Mabel smiled, before playing with her new grown tail.

Just then, Joshua came up with a idea. "Hey how about we have some fun with these powers on our disposal."

Both twins looked at each other before facing Joshua each of them having devious smiles on their faces which instantly gave Joshua their answers. With no exchange of words needed they decided to head back to town to test more of their powers.

 _'This is gonna be so much fun!'_ Joshua thought, as a mischievous smile formed.

* * *

For the past hour, Dipper, Mabel and Joshua went around town and test their newly discovered powers in secret. While they knew how wrong it was to mess with the townsfolk and after the added promise to never use their power to cause physical harm, the trio proceed to cause some havoc.

First, they went to the jewelry store to browse around. This was when Dipper decided to test out his invisibility powers; After using the jewelry store bathroom, he put on his cap and began taking a few jewelry, but not before successfully pick pocketing from a few people and the owner's keys. His actions had caused quite a stir, as people were trying to find who was the thief and even ended up cornering one unfortunate woman in her twenties. After it was confirmed that she was not the thief, the store went into full on lock down, but not before Dipper stormed out of the store still invisible with a few expensive goodies in his pockets.

Their next destination the trio went was the pet store. Mabel decided to use her shape shifting powers to free all the animals that was held captive. The pet store owner was not only ill tempered to everyone around her, but also didn't take care of the animals well. She first transformed into a cat and slowly walked inside the shop, limping to give the owner the impression that she was sick or weakened. The plan worked like a charm and after she was carried inside and into her cage, Mabel did her thing and broke all the animals free behind the owner's back. With her mission complete, the trio left the pet store, with Mabel having the biggest smile on her face, while the boys only shook their heads as both of them were mostly oblivious about the pet shop owner awful personality.

Their last destination the trio stopped by was the furniture store not far from the Lazer Tag place where Soos usually spend his time there. Without delay, Joshua used his telekinesis and lift up most of the furniture. Predictably, everyone inside the store instantly became terrified and scream the word "GHOST! GHOST! GHOST!", while running away for dear lives. After having a few good laughs or so, Joshua ceased his telekinesis powers and left the store, but not before putting everything back where it was.

As the trio is continually walking towards the deep end into town, the teenagers engage in conversation.

"Holy hell, that was fun!" Joshua shouted.

"I agree," Dipper smiled. "That was very awesome!"

"Uh, Dipper? You know that we are going deeper into town, right?" Mabel noticed their surroundings.

Dipper begin to flustered a bit. "I-I know that! I just wanted to go somewhere before we head back at the shack."

"Where?" Joshua asked before him and Mabel being stumbled by a tall building that the brunette instantly recognized.

"Hey, this is the college where Wendy attends." Mabel then looked at her brother with a playful smirk. "Dipper, you sly dog!"

"Wait a minute, so the whole reason you came here is to spy on Wendy…" Joshua smug a bit. "Stalker much, Dipper?"

"Shut up Joshua!" Dipper's face was flustered bright pink. "I'm not a stalker!"

Both Joshua and Mabel looked at Dipper before snickering at him much to his annoyance.

"Ugh! If you need me, I'm going to see Wendy!" Dipper huffed as he put his cap on and entered the school leaving Joshua and Mabel alone together.

"If Dipper gonna go inside, so am I!" Mabel declared, using her bracelet and transformed herself into a pigeon, as she laid her eyes on one a second ago and took off flying, leaving the blonde teenager to himself. With nothing else to do, Joshua decided to take a seat at a nearby bench that was located a couple of miles from college.

He relaxed his body on the bench and decided to take a quick nap.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside Gravity Falls College, Dipper walked around the hallways exploring the school. It was surprisingly big, despite the building having its usual classrooms, such as a inside basketball court, a track field and a few labs. It was where Dipper saw Wendy in her PE uniform from afar.

Despite only wearing blue shorts and a grey t-shirt, her beauty enamored Dipper from the distance as he began to drool over her, even though he was turned down by her and mostly moved on he couldn't help but a small part of him still being infatuated.

He continued to watch her until she went inside the basket ball court along with the rest the class.

"Okay, now it's time for me to skedaddle," Dipper said.

Dipper walked back inside the building ,so he can take his leave, but found himself lost a bit due to the building being so big. Taking a guess, he randomly choose a door and entered inside hoping he would lead him to the school entrance but instead he found himself inside the locker room.

"Dang it I entered the wrong door." Dipper complained as he made his way to the door.

Suddenly he saw the door being opened and who it was shocked him. It was Wendy herself followed by many girls entering inside much to the shock of Dipper who was starting to to sweat a little. After a moment o so of watching his hormones spiked drastically as he witness the girls undressing themselves to change back into their regular clothes. It was at this moment that Dipper made a terrible revelations of where he is at.

 _"Oh Man! I'm in the girls locker room!"_

* * *

Meanwhile, Mabel was sitting on the edge of a small window of the boys' locker room in her pigeon form. Since PE was over, the boys were currently in the locker room, getting changed out of their PE outfit where the brunette gold full view of them and while she was a bird she could subconsciously feel herself drooling.

"Oh yeah. So many handsome boys in my sights, I'm **SO** glad that I can shape shift into any animal I see."

After a minute or so of watching, she decided that she had her fill of watching boys and flew off to find Joshua, where, after a few moments of flying, saw him resting on a nearby bench. She descended down there so she can change back into her human form. Her plans were shattered in a form of a young boy whom, look to be no older than a middle school student, flung a rock at her with his slingshot and managed to hit Mabel, causing her to let out a painful bird screech, as she plummeted down to the ground, much to the boy's pleasure.

"Yes! Bullseye!" The young boy shouted in satisfaction.

"Nice shot, Adam!" Another young boy praised his friend.

"Yeah man, I wish I can have such a aim like yours!" A third boy complemented.

"Hey," Joshua got up and charged towards the boys, having witnessed the boys cruel antics and realizing that pigeon was in fact Mabel. "What the hell are you doing to that harmless pigeon?!"

"None of your business, mister!" The young boy with the slingshot snapped, who had chocolate brown hair, light brown skin tone and black eyes.

"Yeah, buzz off!" The second boy spoke, who had pale skin, blue eyes and light brown hair.

"Aren't you suppose to be in school at this hour?" Joshua challenged the misbehaving boys. "Where are you our parents!?" The third boy groaned, who had brown eyes, moderate brown skin tone and black hair.

"Leave that poor bird alone. It done nothing to you," Joshua ordered.

Adam and the other boys glared at Joshua, with their teeth gritted and their temper rising in a heartbeat. How dare a mere teenager ordered them around like they were slaves. It was time for them to show the blonde teenager that they not an average middle school delinquents.

* * *

Dipper was still in the girls' locker room, frozen in place and sweating profusely. Even though he was safe from being invisible, Dipper possessed an unhealthy level of dread and fear of being caught and for good reason; although the cap granted him invisibility, it didn't grant him intangibility. He also had to be mindful of how much sound he made, since there was someone who will know his voice. Dipper feared that should he made so much of a scream or even an 'Eep', he would be in big trouble and very likely jeopardize his friendship with Wendy.

Dipper got a good look at Wendy's undergarments; her bra and panties were green that matched the color of pines on pines trees; her bra size were big and it made Dipper stared at them for a moment, even though it seemed to like an eternity for the younger twin. It seemed for Wendy that time served her well, with her figure already a few years back since first coming to Gravity Falls and meeting the redhead for the first time. Dipper considered her cute and attractive and she now that both of them are older now she went from cute to a total hottie.

 _'Oh my god, Wendy. You became even hotter than before,'_ Dipper thought, unable to control his urge…as well as his flatulence.

"Huh?" Wendy sniffed the air a few times before making a cringe and disgust expression. "Ugh! Who the hell farted in here?!"

"Obviously you, Wendy! You know the saying goes, you smelled it, dealt it!" One girl joked.

The snappy remark earned the redhead's wrath. "Oh come on, you know how I feel about that phrase! I don't follow that crap at all, so it's obviously not me!"

"Sure it isn't," The girl sarcastically remarked, before she exited the locker room leaving Wendy fuming.

"UGH!" An irritated Wendy groaned, as she put her green jacket on and made her way to the door, leaving Dipper alone in the girls' locker room.

"Whew! I need to get out here now." Dipper muttered as he too took his leave as well.

* * *

"Ow."

"What just happened?"

Adam and his friends were currently on the ground, groaning in pain, while Joshua was sitting on the bench, catering to Mabel, now back in her human form, but due to Adam's actions, her whole body is badly sore and in pain.

"Are you okay, Mabel?" Joshua asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay and thanks," Mabel assured him. "You should have gone easy on them. They didn't know any better!"

Joshua let out a sigh. "Mabel, they try to hurt you! Even if you weren't in danger, I still would have confronted them. If it wasn't for me, who knows what they would done!"

Mabel nodded. "Yeah, but still-"

"Those boys are cruel towards animals and I can't stand that. There is nothing more that needs to be said."

Mabel looked at Joshua, then at the boys, before sighing. "Okay, I'll let this slide, but please try not to lose your temper next time, okay?"

"I can't make any promises, but I'll try my best from here on out," Joshua honestly answered.

While it wasn't the answer that Mabel was hoping to hear, she nodded her head nevertheless. Both Mabel and Joshua got up on their feet, waiting for Dipper to show up; after a minute of waiting, he exited the building, before taking his cap off and suddenly appearing in front of them. Both of them were taken aback by Dipper's flustered face.

"Hey Dipper, what took so long?" Mabel asked.

"N-nothing!" Dipper hastily answered. "L-L-Let's just go, okay?"

"Um sure, bro," Mabel raised her eyebrow. "Come on Joshua, let's go."

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Don't have to tell me twice."

The trio began walking back towards the shack, leaving Adam and his friends continue wailing in pain, with Adam glaring at the three teenagers afar, especially towards Joshua.

"You won this time, but I will have my revenge! Just you wait you bastard!" Adam yelled and raised his fist before quickly put it down due his arms being sore. "OW!"

* * *

The trio made their way back towards the Mystery Shack. During the several minutes trip Dipper was quiet the whole time due to him thinking about Wendy as his head was still visualizing the redhead in her undergarments that he luckily saw earlier today before shaking his head as he try to shake the image off. He need to keep it a secret because should Joshua or god forbid his sister things would instantly go from bad to worse for him because the last thing he want is to be labeled s a peeping tom or a pervert. Dipper wouldn't live his exposed secret down.

The trio finally arrived back at the mystery shack and for the rest of the resumed work. Since Stan was asleep by the time they got back they were able to avoid getting yelled at and with Soos promise to cover them for being gone for so long they will be able to dodge a bullet much to each of the three teenagers relief. Since Wendy is devoting her time in school, she had to leave the shack earlier.

The Mystery Shack closed at around eight o'clock and Soos did the honor of closing up shop and bid the teenagers and Stan a farewell and head on home. Afterwards, the gang decided to have dinner and because Stan didn't feel like cooking, he let the trio to order take out for tonight, with the teenagers decided on Chinese food for dinner. They got their food, pay for it and then ate in the living room, watching TV with Stan.

After a rather enjoyable night the twins, they bid Stan a goodnight and the trio went upstairs to call it a night, but not before wrapping up one loose end.

"So, what are you we gonna go with these?" Mabel asked.

"I say we destroy them." Joshua suggested.

 **"What?! NO!** DO you know much all three jewelry be worth!?" Mabel opposed. "I say we keep it for ourselves!"

"No way!" Now it was Dipper's turn to object. "Let's just get rid of it!"

Joshua shook his head. "And have someone to stumble upon these and be a victim of it's power or some scumbag abuse their powers? Not happening, dude."

"Ugh!" Dipper threw his arms in frustration before laying down on the bed in defeat. The trio are currently residing in Joshua's room trying to make a decision on what to do with the three jewelry but each of them haven't made a decision on the matter and Joshua is brainstorming on what to do.

Selling the jewelry isn't a good option, despite having a fair chance of getting paid handsomely from the pawn shop or any jewelry store. Doing so would end up having someone obtaining these jewelry and fell prey into temptation of using the powers and ended up literally turning to the dark side of the force and wreak havoc.

Getting rid of it was another option, but the blonde teenager ended up shooting that scenario down. That would have been similar to selling the jewelry off, but it would be even worse; this would guarantee that anyone would pick it up and take for themselves and they can easily fall in the wrong hands to someone who was power hungry or have a mean and cruel streak like Adam.

Keeping it, while seemingly to be the better option out of the other two will only spell bad news for the trio as each of them had a gut wrenching feeling that should anyone sees them possessing them they would go after them putting them and everyone such Stan, Wendy and Soos in danger all for the sake of greed.

All of these routes were mind numbing for Joshua, but with their options being limited and the looming consequences hanging over on all three choices, Joshua thought long and hard, before letting out a big sigh.

Joshua had came with a decision. "Okay, It would be best that we keep them."

"What?!" Dipper was in shock from his friend's answer while Mabel happily jumped in joy.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"However," Joshua was not finished talking. "They would under tight security and under my care."

"Say what?!" Mabel then glared at Joshua. "How come it has to be you?! What about us?!"

Joshua let out a sarcastic laugh. "Not a chance in hell! Both of your powers falls under the infiltration category. Dipper's hard on obsession with Wendy and Mabel, your head is full of fantasizing on boys and sexy vampires almost twenty four seven, so you two obviously can't be trusted!"

"What?! I don't an obsession with Wendy!" a flustered Dipper objected harshly.

"I beg to differ, bro," Mabel countered Dipper's denial, before turning to Joshua. "And I do not fantasize boys! Okay maybe I do, but not twenty four seven, I can assure you!"

Joshua only glared at the twins and blinked once. It was clear that he wasn't buying their words and was set on having the jewelry to be under his care, since Joshua only have telekinesis, while the twins have the ability to concealed their appearances, with Dipper having the power of invisibility, while Mabel herself can change into animals and since they ended up being irresponsible with their powers, it would be under his watchful eyes.

So after much thought, the twins gave in. "Ugh, fine!" Mabel groaned in defeat, causing Joshua to smug.

"I thought so," Joshua took the bracelet and and cap from them and set it on his bed along with his necklace.

"Well, it's getting late," Dipper pointed out. "So we're heading on to bed. Night Joshua."

"Night you two." Joshua said as he watched the twins leaving his room. Joshua closed his door and changed out into his clothes and into his pajamas. Before going to bed Joshua put the jewelry in a purple chest and put it up somewhere that only he can find it and no one else. After that was done he turned the bedroom lights off and went to bed.

 _'Man, today has been a surprisingly fun day. I hope my grandmother is holding up okay,'_ Was the last thing Joshua thought before yawing and closed his eyes and drifted into slumber.

Later that night, Mabel was currently using her stealth to sneak inside Joshua's room to reclaim her bracelet.

 _"Like hell I'm gonna allow Joshua to keep my precious bracelet!"_ Mabel thought bitterness filling her subconscious. _"I'm gonna show Joshua why I am the Alpha twin!"_

With careful movement Mabel slowly opened the door and entered inside where she sees Joshua sleeping peacefully. No time to spare she quickly began her search; first she looked in the closet, then the bathroom followed by drawer and then finally under the bed. After searching practically everywhere Mabel quietly bit her lip in frustration and left the room in defeat. As soon she entered her room she collapsed on her bed and let out a groan that thankfully didn't wake her brother up due to her head was buried on her pillow.

She took out her diary, turned on the lamp on her night stand and begin to write her latest entry.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Ugh! What a day has it been. Joshua, my brother and I found three awesome looking jewelry! Normally, jewelry isn't nothing special, aside from how gorgeous it looks, but this is an exception, because it gave us powers! Joshua can lift things without touching them, Dipper has invisibility and as for me, I can shape-shift into animals! We used these powers to cause some mindless and harmless fun, but Joshua decided to keep them, so he can safeguard them, which I can understand, but I can be trusted too! In fact, I even sneak inside his room so I can reclaim my bracelet so I can prove to him,but I searched everywhere and ended up with nothing! That sly fox! Ugh! I wish he can see we can be trusted as well. Anyway, It's very late right now I'm going to bed. Don't want to be cranky at work in the morning._

Mabel closed her diary, turned off her lamp and went to bed.

* * *

Back at Joshua's room, laughter echoed the room and the sourced the laughter is Joshua himself.

"Heh. You didn't think I was asleep now, did you, Mabel?" Joshua whispered, holding the purple chest containing the three jewelries, before putting it back, where it was via a secret small door, located under his bed that blended well with the wooden floor.

"You gonna have to better than that to outsmart me, Mabel," Joshua said as he drifted off to sleep. "Way better than that."

 **And that's wrap another chapter! Looks Like Dipper's crush on Wendy hasn't fade in the slightest and as Joshua has unknowingly made a new enemy. Anyway hope you enjoy the chapter and rest assured Gideon will return in the upcoming chapters. And don't worry, Pacifica will appear as well. I just want this story to progress so it will connect upcoming chapters in the future and the last thing I want to do is to rush things and that's including the romance that will happen.**

 **So I hope you all understand and see you in the next chapter! Ciao!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey there guys! I'm back with another chapter! Enjoy!**

 **Gravity Falls Shopping Center, 9:00 a.m.**

As the morning routine was up in motion, a young man in his late twenties was at the mall's main entrance, waiting in front for it to open, intending to get whatever he needed inside of the mall.

"Oh, come on, now! they should have send someone to opened the doors!" The young man complained, as his impatience slowly eating away his mind.

Just then, a bright flash out light engulfed the entire mall, and while this was happening, a voice in a form of a young boy spoke.

"Awesome. With these humans now under my control no one can escape."

* * *

It was another day in Gravity Falls, for the trio as they were currently busy working at the shack. Normally, it would be the case, but today was Friday and Mabel have something planned for her brother and her friends.

"Guys! A new mall has opened!" Mabel squealed in excitement. "How about we go there and have some fun for our day off?!"

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea, Mabel," Dipper agreed. "I hope they have some good stores."

"I'm surprised that Stan even bothered giving us a day off," Joshua commented. "I think he's planning something against us."

"Quit it, Joshua!" Mabel frowned at the blonde teenager. "Stan is a good person!"

Joshua only rolled his eyes and relaxed his body on his seat. The trio were currently in the living room, watching TV, while Stan is in his room changing. Stad has to go somewhere with Soos; he didn't say where they were going, other than Stan commenting that it was "something very important" and decided not to open the shop today. As a result, the trio didn't have to work, much to their relief, despite Joshua being a bit suspicious for him being so generous.

"I'm gonna invite Candy Chu and Grenda over!" Mabel exclaimed, before she start dialing on her cellphone.

"Who?" Joshua asked.

"Candy Chi and Grenda," Dipper answered. "They're two Mabel best friends they she first met them here."

"Oh, that explains it," Joshua responded sarcastically, causing Dipper to look at him.

"What's that suppose to mean?" an irritated Dipper asked.

"Oh nothing," Joshua smirked. "It's just that your sister know how to attract some unusual people."

Dipper frowned upon hearing. "Are you going to make fun of my sister for that?"

Joshua waved his hands. "Not at all Dipper. Not at all."

"Well…okay then," Dipper relaxed a bit.

"Candy and Grenda will be coming with us and I told them to meet us at the bus stop an hour from now," Mabel explained. "Let's go get ready!"

Both boys nodded and the trio went upstairs, getting ready and make some last minute adjustments before heading out.

* * *

After half an hour have passed, the trio left the shack and headed out to the gas station, where the nearest bus stop was. Today was a particular hot day, so the trio dressed lightly for the occasion. As the gang walked towards their destination, Joshua began to wonder about his grandmother; the last time he heard from her was on the same day he was enrolled in the R.F.P.P and as a result of living on the run, he hadn't heard from her, since trying to contact her with his phone was deemed too risky. He can just only hope that she was doing okay.

The trio arrived at the front of the gas station where the bus stop was. Candy Chu and and Grenda were nowhere to be seen, so the trio decided to go inside the gas station to cool off, as well as checking out the McDonalds inside, where the air conditioner was filling the whole building, much to the relief of the three. Much time ahs passed, before Mabel saw her two best friends arriving, causing the brunette to sprint out the gas station and greet her friends.

"Candy! Grenda!" Mabel embraced them in a group hug. "I'm so glad to see you two!"

Candy Chu smiled. "Likewise Mabel, it's been too long!"

"Ready to go the mall girls?" an excited Mabel asked, with Grenda nodded her head.

"You betcha!" The three girls saw Dipper and Joshua sitting inside the gas station, with Grenda and Candy eyeing on Joshua.

"Hey, who's that boy sitting with your brother?" Candy asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, that's Joshua, Candy. A new friend that we met a week ago and he's staying with us," Mabel answered.

"Really? What are the reasons that he's staying with you?" Grenda asked.

Mabel frowned. "I can't ask anything that would upset him, like his home or who his family, so I don't know anything at all."

"I see…" Grenda scratched her chin.

"But…" Mabel started. "It seemed that Joshua is in the Witness Protection Program. I can't prove it yet, but I saw a number of agents showed up at our house and then escorting Joshua."

"That's pretty accurate," Candy shook her head before staring back at Joshua. "But wow, Mabel, you met this boy at the unusual of circumstances."

"I know, right?!" Mabel chuckled. "But seriously girls, try not to ask too many questions that might make him sad or upset."

"You got it, Mabel!" Grenda gave her friend a thumbs up with Candy nodded her head.

"Don't worry, we'll be careful."

Mabel looked at her two best friends and formed a smile, knowing that everything would go great today.

* * *

Unfortunately for the gang, their trip to the mall didn't start glamorously as they would have hoped. They waited for an hour and a half for the bus, due to the previous bus ending up broke down en route, forcing the gang to wait for another bus to come show up, much to their dismay.

Despite the setback, the bus incident was just the start of something much worse. The bus ride alone was just dreadful; it was crowded with many young adults, making the majority of them no doubt that they were out getting lunch, so they can eat before returning to work. Because of this, the group had to sit in different seats, away from one another. But then, the group were stuck in traffic shortly afterwards and they were stuck inside the bus, much longer than they have intended.

Thankfully, it came to an end after an hour and the bus finally arrived at the mall, with each of them letting out sighs of relief; Joshua stretched his arms and loosen his body a bit, since sitting on the bus for more than an hour made his legs and arms sleep.

"ARGH! So glad that I'm out of that bus!" Joshua spoke up.

"Agreed," Dipper added. "I think my legs fell asleep during the long bus trip."

Mabel clapped her hands. "So this is the new mall that the people talked about. It's huge!"

Dipper, Joshua, Candy and Grenda looked at the mall and the mere sight of it cause them to stare at the building with awe; the mall was very huge, with the building being painted ocean blue and there was a lot of people walking and having a good tim, with tons of cars filling up the entire parking lot, considering the mall was having a grand opening and the music was playing so loud, that it could be heard from outside. All and all, it was a sight to be behold.

"Wow…" Joshua let out a whistle. "This is a huge mall that would put Piedmont mall back in California look a like kindergarten."

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Mabel was jumping in excitement. "Let's go!"

Mabel bolted towards the mall with the biggest smile on her face, with Candy and Grenda right on her trail, followed an annoyed Dipper and a slightly shock Joshua.

"Ugh!" Dipper groaned as he began to speak. "Joshua, I hope you have a high tolerance level and willpower."

Joshua chuckled a bit. "I know where this is going and don't worry, I've come prepared."

"That would explain the laptop bag you've brought with you," Dipper commented, noticing the grey colored bag resting on his friend's right side. "What did you bring anyway?"

Joshua formed a smile, as he dig in his bag and got out two books. When he saw the two books, Dipper immediately became shocked.

"Is that what I think it is?" Dipper asked. Joshua nodded his head.

"Yep, I've finally managed to get a copy of _The Trials Of Apollo The Hidden Oracle."_

Dipper then grabbed the book and start reading right away. "You a life saver, Joshua. I wanted you to know that."

Joshua laughed a bit. "Glad to be useful in your time of need."

* * *

For the whole morning, the gang went to every clothing store they could find in the newly opened mall. The three girls took their sweet time looking and trying out many outfits, ranging from jeans to dresses; in Mabel's case, she tried out a bunch of nice looking sweaters, as well as trying on some shoes along the way.

Being at a lot of places and waiting for a long time would drive most boys insane with impatience, something that Joshua and Dipper have experienced. But luckily for them, the two boys were occupied reading their books, Dipper reading _The Trials Of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle_ , while Joshua was reading _Magnus Chase And The Gods Of Asgard: The Sword Of The Summer_ , whenever they saw a nearby chair in every shop they entered, fighting off the boredom they would have suffered.

After a while of walking around, the girls decided to head to the food court, much to the relief of the two boys, since although they were occupied reading, but were nonetheless tired from all that walking, forced to endured from an hour of shopping, but they can get themselves a well deserved rest.

Mabel went to Five Guys, with Candy Chiu and Joshua heading to Panda Express since they were both feeling to have chinese food, Grenda went to Burger King and for Dipper he went to McDonalds. Everyone sat on the same table and begin eating.

"So Joshua…" Candy began to speak. "Are you having a good time?"

"Hmm?" Joshua turned and faced Candy. "Oh, today has been good so far."

Dipper watched, as he took a good look at Candy Chiu and Grenda on how much they have changed; Candy's black licorice hair have grown even longer, resting barely above her and while her face hasn't changed that much, her body, however, did, as she was now very tall and even beaten Mabel by a mere inch and her...assets have grown as well, changing her from a small geeky girl to a fairly attractive young woman. She still retained her green colored glasses.

For Grenda, she still retained her large body and her abdominal strength, but her femininity had started to come out and appeared, with her assets being developed, but her face have became more feminine, with her chin and her hair having grown to shoulder length, discarding her ponytail, but aside from that she, still looked the same four years ago and her manly voice was present but had soften a bit.

After an hour of eating and talking, the gang resumed their day, checking out other stores, but as they walked, they heard a loud voice echoing the entire mall.

"And another contestant bites the dust!" The announcer voice was male.

"Is that what I think it is?" Joshua asked.

"It is!" Mabel point out. "It's a eating contest!"

"Why would they have an eating contest here, of all things?" Dipper asked, feeling a bit confused.

"Beats me," Joshua shrugged before smirking. "Why do we get a closer look?"

"What?!" Dipper was displeased by his friend's suggestion. "Now why we waste our time watching a eating contest?"

Joshua looked at Dipper. "It's beats being dragged to every clothing store in the entire mall. So take your pick."

Dipper shook his head. "Hey, why don't we check out the eating contest, shall we?"

The three girls nodded their heads in approval and made their way to the eating contest, while Joshua smirking.

"I thought you would take that choice, Dipper."

"Shut up, Joshua," An annoyed Dipper rolled his eyes.

* * *

The gang managed to find a few seats in the front row and sat down. They instantly saw what the eating contest was about; the contestants were competing to win for one of three prizes that was sitting on the side on the table, all of them were high tech. The bronze prize was an HP brand Laptop, complete with Beats audio speakers, a touchscreen and a cd drive, the silver prize was Samsung High Definition television and the gold prize was a suitcase that holds two million dollars.

The twins, Grenda, Candy and Joshua stared at the prizes and instantly wanted to enter, but upon what the food was, it made them shiver in fear; the food were hot peppers, some of which contained ghost peppers, one of the hottest peppers around.

"It had to be hot chili peppers!" Joshua intensely whispered. "Damn it all!"

"Well, I want that Laptop!" A determined Mabel spoke up.

"But who would have the endurance to survive eating hot peppers!?" Candy asked. "I know I can't!"

Before the group cold discuss the matter further, the announcer spoke with much enthusiasm. "…And another contestant calls it quits, leaving our champion Corrin to take another win!"

The gang looked at the champion and saw him for the first time and his appearance was quite unique; He had silk blonde hair that were shoulder length, warm golden honey yellow eyes and light skin, wearing gray shorts, a blue t shirt, and white sneakers. One distinctive figure he had was his small stature, giving off a childish appearance, something that was rather shocking, in addition to his androgynous looks.

"So he's the champion, huh?" Joshua spoke.

Mabel let out a gush. "Awww! He's so adorable!"

"Isn't he too young to even be allowed to be in an eating contest?" Dipper scratched his head.

"True," Grenda rubbed her chin, before spotting something that was very odd. "Guys, I'll be right back. I need to go use the restroom."

"Speaking of which, I need to go as well," Joshua spoke as well. "We'll be back!"

The twins and Candy nodded their head, as the two got up from their seats and head straight from the bathroom, before heading to one particular spot that caught their attention.

"You saw it too, huh?" Joshua asked, with Grenda confirm his suspension with a quick nod.

"Yeah, I did. I'm surprised that that Dipper missed it, despite how he's always a control freak," Grenda playfully chuckles.

Joshua laughs. "Hey, he can't be perfect in everything his does! No one is perfect."

"Can't argue with that!" Grenda burst out laughing, as they arrived at their destination. It was a simple trash can but what it was doing that gave off red flags; the trash can was glitching out of control.

"Am I seeing things correctly?" Grenda asked. "That trash can is glitching? That is not possible!"

"It shouldn't be possible at all," Joshua agreed, as he touched the trashcan, only to see his hand pass through, much to the two teenagers shock.

"Whoa!" Joshua felt nothing strange, as his hand passed through the trashcan, before bringing his hand back and saw that the trashcan glitched out frantically, before vanishing completely.

Joshua and Grenda eyes widened in disbelief as what they just witness.

"Holy…" Joshua started. "Guacamole!"

"And you think that was bad look, at the shop over there!" Grenda pointed to the bookstore and just like the trashcan, the store begin to fade in and out of reality.

"This is very strange indeed," Joshua then remember and got out the small light blue colored orb. "Looks like I'm gonna need some help."

"What is that?" Grenda asked.

"An orb I can use to summon some help," Joshua answered as he activated the orb. "Come to me!"

The light blue orb grew lighter and lighter, until three balls of light appeared out in front of them, becaming silhouettes and instantly turned into three certain mythical water creatures.

"Master!" The yellow kappa cheered upon seeing Joshua.

"We're here to serve you master!" The blue kappa said.

Grenda's jaw dropped. "Joshua, who are these creatures?"

"These are kappas, Grenda," Joshua replied. "I met them a while ago."

Grenda just shook her head. "Alright, I guess."

The green kappa salute to Joshua. "So what do you need us for, master?"

"I need to you look at the bookstore," Joshua explained, as he pointed them at the bookstore. "Do you noticed the store fading in and out of reality?"

"Yes master, I can see that," The yellow kappa spoke, as its eyes, along with its companions, glowed instantly and scan the bookstore and after a moment, the three kappas gasped.

"Master, don't panic but we gotta tell you this…." The Yellow Kappa started.

"This place…" The blue Kappa continued. "This place isn't real."

"It's an illusion," The green Kappa finished.

The revelation shocked Joshua as he turned pale a bit. "What? This whole mall is nothing but an illusion?! Why?! And how?!"

"The only way that can do such a feet is a creature called the kitsune," The Yellow Kappa concluded.

"Kitsune?" The word quickly caused Joshua to lit up. "You mean those magical foxes that can grow up to nine tales and have the ability shapeshift into into humans?!"

"Wow master ,you really are smart!" The Green Kappa praised the blonde haired teenager, with the Blue Kappa letting out a nod.

"Yes, you describe them perfectly master but not too worry. Due to one of the buildings are fading means that the kitsune is not all that powerful."

Joshua raised his eyebrow. "Is that so? Okay, I want you find who is the kitsune."

"Got it, master!" The Green Kappa said as the three Kappas scan and looked around the place for a bit, until their eyes finally landed on someone.

"M-Master!" The yellow Kappa spoke. "There! That boy is the kitsune!"

Joshua looked at the person that the kappa was pointing at and was stunned by who the culprit was.

"Corrin!? He's the kitsune!?" The blue Kappa nodded.

"Yes and thankfully, it only possessed one tail ,meaning that it's illusion is not all that strong. If we can somehow expose him the illusion would likely break."

"Well. how can we break the illusion ?!" The green kappa complained.

Joshua scratched his chin and he trail deep in thought. "Hmm I heard that one way you can expose its tails that when it becomes drunk or something along the line like that."

"Of course!" The green Kappa snapped its fingers. "But where can we get alcohol?!"

Joshua smirked a bit as he thought up a good strategy. "I think I've found a way."

The blonde teenager turned to Grenda, who was starting in confusion trying to understand what they were saying. "Grenda does this place have store that sells alcoholic beverages?"

"Come to think of it, yes," Grenda answered hesitantly. "But why do you need alcohol for?"

Joshua let out a smirk. "You'll see…"

* * *

Back at the eating contest, Corrin and a few contestants were now batting it out, eating hot chili peppers and enduring the growing heat and pain on their tongues, with the crowd cheering them on. They wanted to see who can last the longest and see who can win the prizes; there were currently six people sitting on the table up stage, with Dipper being one of them.

Despite a mere fifteen minutes have passed, the intensity already filled the air, as each contestants pushed their endurance to their limits, the fire from the chili peppers slowly building up their tongues and stomaches. It didn't took long for the contestants to let out groans and painful cries, trying to keep themselves in the contest, as each of them wanted those prizes.

Dipper himself was having a particularly hard time keeping his cool up, as he wanted to get that laptop, even though it wasn't his idea to enter the contest to begin with. Just thinking about it made him glared at the one person that was the sole reason why he was up here, recalling several minutes ago…

* * *

 _"What?!" Dipper shouted and shook his head. "Absolutely not!"_

 _"Aw, come on Dipper!" Mabel groaned. "I need that laptop!"_

 _"Mabel, we have a computer back home! What do you need a laptop for?" Dipper asked._

 _"Because I want it! The Alpha Twin demands it!" Mabel shouted. "Besides we don't have any computer at the Mystery Shack!"_

 _Dipper folded his arms. "Regardless I'm not going to enter!"_

 _Mabel frowned at her brother being uncooperative, until she thought of something that would break him into submission. "Fine then, I guess you don't mind of me showing Joshua this then."_

 _"What are you talking ab-" Dipper stopped in his tracks and saw a picture that would be the end of him: two photos of him as a child in his lamb costume and another picture of him wearing his mother wedding dress."_

 _"Mabel! Where did you get that?!" Dipper demanded, as his face begin to turn pink._

 _"Oh Dipper…" Mabel smirked. "You know well that I know all your secrets."_

 _Dipper glared his sister for a moment, feeling the urge of choking her before finally face palmed and sighed in defeat. "Alright I'll join!"_

 _"Ata boy Dipper!" Mabel smiled brightly. "Now win for the Alpha Twin!"_

* * *

"How do I get myself into situation like these?!" a dismayed Dipper muttered, as he walked towards the entering booth.

Dipper shook his head, focusing on the contest and his endurance as he swallowed another yellow chili pepper and he began to cough due to it going down the wrong pipe hole and becoming flustered as well.

"Oh my," The male announcer spoke. "Contestant number 3 is choking up a storm! Will he be able to pull through or will be bite the dust?"

"Come on Dipper!" Candy Chi cheered.

"You can do it bro bro!" Mabel shouted.

Dipper looked at Candy and Mabel seeing their support, enough for him to pull through and recovered, much to the shock of the crowd, whom let out a roar of approval.

"Look like contestant 3 still have some strength in him!" The male announcer said.

The contest continue to went on for about an hour and slowly, the contestants started to fall one by one. Contestant 4, whom was a young woman in her 30s, was the first one to go with her literally breathing fire from her mouth and ran to the nearest store to get cold water. Contestant 3, a young boy that looked to be around Dipper's age, was next to fall, with him fainting due to the intense heat building inside his body. As for contestant 5 and 6, both who were twin girls, they were the last to fall from both of them, coughing up a storm, to the point the had trouble breathing and they wouldn't risk getting the prizes over their very lives, leaving Dipper and Corrin the only ones left.

The crowd raged on in anticipation who would win.

"It finally comes down to this ladies and gentleman…" The male announcer spoke as he became more tense. "Who would win? Will our champion raised on top or will the newcomer overthrown and take the crown himself."

Dipper looked at Corrin, who was shocked, but the most part, was relaxed and calm, having retained that look all the duration of the contest. Something like that made Dipper think for a moment, coming across the possibility of him cheating by manipulating the male announcer to give him only the mild ones to chow down. Even so, Dipper shook his head, as that couldn't be the case and if it was, the contest would ended up being unfair and it would resulting in harsh backlash. With this knowledge in mind, he shot down the idea of Corrin cheating and resumed preparing himself for the final round between him and Corrin.

* * *

Meanwhile, Joshua and the three kappas were standing behind the booth. "Okay Grenda, are you ready?"

"I'm ready," Grenda replied, wearing a worker's outfit as a disguise.

"Okay, let's get this started," Joshua said, as he faced the kappas, who were carrying a barrel of sake. "Initiating alpha plan exposing kitsune!"

"You know Joshua, that's a sucky name for a plan," Grenda cringed with disapproval.

"It'll works enough, so we're going with that!" Joshua snapped.

"Whatever you say," Grenda shook her head, as they begin their plan.

Taking a deep breathe, Grenda walked towards the the chili pepper contest from behind, wearing a tuxedo and a white mask that covered her whole face and a top black hat, in addition to a pair of large raven black wings on her back, making her having an appearance of a phantom thief.

"Joshua is _so_ owning me for this," Grenda muttered as she began clearing her voice and jumped on stage., before she let out the biggest cackle she could mustered.

Everyone gasped at Grenda and even Dipper and Corrin stopped eating the hot chili peppers.

"Who are you?!" The male announcer asked in fear.

"Why I am the great Arsene Lupin!" Grenda declared in her majestic sexy man, or the best impersonation she could think of

"The legendary thief Arsene Lupin?" One gullible woman asked gushing.

"The one and only!" Grenda replied as she faced the male announcer. "Now I'll be taking those prizes from ya!"

"What?!" The male announcer sneered. "No way! Security!"

Grenda shook her head in disappointment. "Want to do this the hard way, huh? Well, I myself should know that I have reputation of going after people who are much worse than I myself and you sir are clearly fall into that category of my good sir."

"What are you talking about?!" The male announcer asked.

"Well I see you have those prizes sitting over there, but there's just one problem: these prizes are not yours, as they were stolen," Grenda explained.

The people became confused and looked at each other.

"Stolen?"

"How are these prizes stolen?"

Grenda faced the audience and smiled. "I'm glad you asked! You see every contest would have a certificate or something like a waiver that would confirm the prizes are legit but I have seen not one of those which means that the male announcer either manipulate or did some very shady practices. Either way each of those prizes belong to somebody else."

"L-lies!" The male announcer began to sweat profusely. "I'll have you know that these prizes are not stolen!"

"If so, then show me the certificates then!" Grenda challenged.

"I don't need to because security is here!" The male announcer declared as the guards showed up. "Get him!"

"Looks like it's time to for me to go!" Grenda let out a confident laugh, before sprinting, making her escape and taking one of the prizes with her, much to everyone's shock, while the guards were displeased by this, as they didn't waste any time of chasing the phantom thief, leaving everyone in shock of what to make of the scene.

"What was that?" a confused Mabel asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Mabel," Candy was confused as well.

"Ugh!" The male announcer rolled his his eyes before facing the audience. "My apologies, ladies and gentleman. Let's resume the contest, since the guards will take care of that thief."

The contest resume without much hitch and while Dipper was holding up on his own quite well, Corrin was showering the younger twin's efforts by munching on the hot peppers as if they were mere candy. Just he was about to win, strange things began to happen, as some of the shops and people were starting to glitch in and out.

Mabel and Candy were the first to notice the glitch and panicked a bit, before they looked at each other.

"Candy, are you seeing this?!" Mabel asked.

"I am so seeing this!" Candy replied, nodding her head in confirmation.

Likewise, Dipper expressed similar shock of the glitch. "What the hell is going on!?"

Before Dipper could investigate it, he could hear laughter nearby and saw it was coming Corrin, his face blushing pink and apparently having a hard time standing up and seeing clearly.

"Corrin?" Dipper raised his eyebrow confused. "Why is he laughing? Hey Corrin! Something strange is happening! We need to get out of he-"

The next thing Dipper knew, he saw something that made him stopped talking and his eyes widened: A bushy tail stuck out of his pants that resembles that of a fox.

 _'What the hell…?_ ' Dipper thought. _'Corrin has a tail…?! And not only that it's glowing so intensely…'_

What followed really took Dipper, Mabel and Candy by surprise. Corrin's appearance begin to change, his human form starting to becomes more animalistic; fox ears appeared on top of his head, fingernails turned into claws, his teeth turned into canine fangs and his eyes change from honey yellow to ruby red and a yellow orb hanging on his keychain.

Needless to say, the twins and Candy were shocked by Corrin's appearance, but before any of the teenagers could respond, the entire mall began to glitch up and then slowly but surely, the place faded away into nothingness and after a minute or so the people, shop and the mall ceased to exist and the teenagers found themselves inside a freeway tunnel.

"What the?!" Mabel shook her head as she looked at her surroundings. "Where are we?!"

"Looks like some kind of tunnel," Candy answered.

Just then, a large groaned can be heard and it was Corrin. "ARGH! You humans had to ruin everything!"

"What in the world are you?!" Dipper asked, more like demanded.

"That, my friends, is a creature called a kitsune." A familiar voice answered.

Everyone turned and saw Joshua, Grenda and the three kappas coming towards them and upon seeing the kappas Corrin let out a defeated sigh.

"Of course…" Corrin shook his head. "Kappas can see through my illusion!"

Joshua smugged. "Yes, they could!"

"But still, how did you discovered my secret?" A confused Corrin demanded.

"Simple…" Joshua explained. "By using alcohol to make you drunk and careless. All Grenda had to do was distracting everyone with her Arsene Lupin performance and I took your plate and inject the hot peppers with sake."

"Damnit!" Corrin cursed. "That would explain the bizarre taste of my red peppers!"

"Wait, that was you in that in phantom thief outfit, Grenda?" A very shocked Candy asked.

"Yeah," Grenda bashfully scratched the back of her head. "It wasn't my idea though."

"Anyway…" Dipper began. "What were you planning?!"

"Like I would tell you humans anything!" Corrin sneered, as he made his escape by making himself intangible and passed through the walls. "See you later, puny humans!"

"Hey!" Dipper shouted as he ran towards the wall that Corrin passed through. "Get back here!"

"Let him go, Dipper. You won't be able to catch him anyway, since kitsunes rely on their speed and magic to escape," Joshua informed Dipper.

Dipper let out a sigh. "Well, that was one heck of an illusion Corrin cast."

"I'll say," Mabel agreed. "The mall felt so very real!"

"Kitsunes are well known to cast illusion that is considered near flawless," Joshua explained.

"Well anyway, where are we and how far are we are from Gravity Falls?" Dipper asked.

Joshua got out his smartphone and used Google maps to see where they are; upon getting the results, the blonde haired teenager let out a frustrating groan.

"Well I hope you guys have the stamina to walk, because we have a long time ahead of us of getting back home," Joshua said. "Like an hour or so…"

* * *

After much time has passed that what seems like half a day the gang finally arrived back in town and by the time they arrive it was already dark. Grenda, Candy and the three kappas parted ways and went home but not before Joshua awarding the three kappas with thirty dollars worth of cucumbers for their help much to the kappas delight.

Upon arriving Mystery Shack the twins and Joshua collapsed on the ground as they have been walking for a good hour and half and both their feet and legs are painfully sore.

"Ugh!" Mabel groaned. "I can't feel my feet at all."

"I hope this doesn't becomes a trend for us." a tired Dipper said.

"You and me both, Dipper," Joshua agreed, as he and the twins slowly got onto their feet and headed towards the living room, where they saw Soos relaxing on the sofa.

"Hey there, guys!" Soos greeted the teenagers.

"Soos?" Joshua raised his eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Stan had to go somewhere, so he asked me to watch the shack for him," Soos answered. "Since you guys are here now, I'm a bit tired, so how about I ordered up some pizza for us?"

The thought of pizza send the twins from their tired expression to a much upbeat attitude.

"Oh! Can we order some buffalo wings, Soos?" Mabel excitedly asked.

"And we can get some drinks with that as well?" Dipper asked.

Soos nodded his head, before facing Joshua. "Do you want anything, dude?"

"Just give me pepperoni and I'm good," Joshua replied. "If you need me, I'll be in my room upstairs."

Joshua made his way to his room and upon entering it, collapsed on his bed, resting for about ten minutes, before changing into his pajamas and getting his dinner when it arrived a half hour later. For the rest for the night, the gang ate in the living room and watched TV, before calling a night and head into bed, with Soos staying at the shack overnight, sleeping on the sofa.

The twins were in their room getting ready for bed, with Mabel hopping on her bed.

"Wow, never thought the mall was nothing more than a mere illusion," Mabel commented.

"Yeah," Dipper nodded. "Joshua sure know his stuff about Japanese mythos it's kinda mind boggling that the journal don't have creatures from eastern mythology."

"It goes to show how Joshua is a really good friend to have with us," Mabel smiled.

"You're right about that," Dipper agreed. "You know Mabel, I wasn't too sure about Joshua living with us, but I'm beginning to feel happy that he's staying with us."

"Well I'm glad you have a much positive opinion about Joshua. Anyway, it's getting late so we should head onto bed," Mabel said, as she turned off her lamp.

"Right," Dipper turned off his lamp as well. "Goodnight, Mabel."

"Night ,Dipper," Mabel replied, as the twins laid down and fell asleep as the countless of stars lit up the night sky.

* * *

Later that night, Mabel woke up and went to the bathroom. Afterward, she want back in her room and upon entering she let out a shriek that woke up Dipper and Waddles.

"AH!" a shocked and shaken Dipper shot up and turned on his lamp. "Mabel, why are your screaming?!"

"All my clothes that I bought! It's gone!" Mabel shouted.

"What?! That shouldn't be possi-" Dipper stopped talking and thought back of Joshua's words about the kitsune. "Oh no…Mabel, that mall was an illusion so if I'm correction, then everything you, Candy and Grenda have brought from there would have disappeared as well."

"That can't be!" Mabel denied her brother words, before hearing Joshua's statements and facepalming in response. "Ugh! You're right! All the money that I spent on is gone!"

"Yeah," Dipper began to glare at his sister, after a realization hit him like a handful of bricks. "Which means the prizes that were on display vanished as well, so I ended up being forced into a contest that was all for nothing, Mabel!"

"Not now, Dipper!" Mabel shouted as she stomped around in circles, still fuming while ignoring her shortcomings and blackmailing her brother into the hot pepper contest.

"Ugh!" Dipper rolled his eyes turning off his lamp and laid back down and closed his eyes and try to go back to sleep and expected his sister do the same but after a few minutes went by Dipper opened his eyes and can still hear Mabel's loud stomping.

"You're not going to let this go, huh?" Dipper asked not turning his head.

"Nope!" Was Mabel's answer, before resuming her temper tantrum.

Dipper gritted his teeth and folded his pillow to cover his ears. "This is going to be a very very very long night…."

 **And that's wraps up about Chapter 6! Sorry for the long wait, I came down with bacteria pneumonia and long story short it made me prevented to work on my stories and while I had some time off on my second job I still had to work on my first job and I wanted time to myself and relax. But now I'm feeling a whole lot better!**

 **But I also wanted to tell you guys a few things. I have been losing interests with this story and while I have some few chapter ideas I'm still a bit short on ideas so after this update this story will go into haitus a bit. Plus while I was sick I came up with another story idea and it would be Star Vs the forces of evil fanfic but don't worry I'm still dedicated of seeing this story completed that much is certain.**

 **Anyway just wanted to give you a heads up on things! If you have any ideas for this story, pm me or leave them in a review! Thank you for all the support and happy reading! Ciao!**


	8. A long Awaited Update

Hello my fellow readers! Allenfairytail here! Man its been a while but i had a reason. okay a few reasons.

During the time between the last time we spoke ive been bust with life and all. To begin with, my old laptop went AWOL on me and with it my whole royal hunt chapters and planned chapters of season 1 was lost. this was due to me using Microsoft word and not google since the latter all my stuff is saved should i used any computer regardless of what type or model. That set me back ALOT as you can all very likely know.

Second, my home life. Since i work two jobs, with one at home, a certain situation caused me to take a break from writing. It also made me to pinch in my savings to help the family out thus preventing me to save up and by a new laptop. Thankfully I saw an all in one pc on sale and now as of the time of posting i finally got my own pc allowing me to write again.

But despite that, the frustration of and stress of losing my laptop, along with all the work ive managed to have combined dealing with my personal life resulting in me burning out and lost interest in writing, explaining my lack of updates. I cant tell you how much it made me want to quit ill tell ya. But, im not going to, im gonna keep writing and im planning to get back into. Im working on royal hunt as we speak and during the time of my hiatus i also discovered the thing I came here to this site; the fun or writing.

Anyway I wanted to up give everyone an update on things Sorry for the long wait. I'll have royal hunt either this or next week. Oh and as for the star butterfly story that i mentioned at the end of last chapter. For that ive gone back of the drawing board on what to do with it. I have it decided for my star butterfly to be a gamer story where Star, Marco and the others going to be involved in a video game and the genre they'll be in will be a mixed of Action with strong RPG elements and dungeon crawler. And knowing how rather big they are I looked at many video games, anime, manga and several webcomics and hell, even superhero movies and comics for inspiration and ideas for each characters style to match one's personality in the Star Butterfly Universe. One I can confirmed that there WON'T be a class system is favored the characters having more freedom. To give you a hint of what the Rpg system be, think Elder Scrolls V Skyrim and you'll get at least of an idea of what im aiming here.

And thats about it! Hope I see you all again and again sorry for the long wait. Thanks for you understanding. Chao!


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